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PRINCE  OR  CREOLE 


Prince  or  Creole 

THE  MYSTERY   OF  LOUIS  XVII 

By  PUBLIUS  V.  LAWSON,  Author  of  "Bravest  of  the 
Brave,  Capt.  Charles  de  Langlade"  and  "Family  Genealogy" 


^!? 


Geo.  Banta  Publishing  Compciny 
Menasha,  Wisconsin 


.  3 


Entered  According  to  Act  of  Congress 
IN  THE  Year  1905 

BY 

PUBLIUS  V.  LAWSON 

In  THE  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress 

AT  Washington 


>3 

^4 


TO  LILLIAN  EDITH  LAWSON 


ivil735S0 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTKB.  PAGE 

I.    The  Prince  is  born 11 

II.    Marie  Antoinette  appears  for  the  last  time  in  Regal 

magnificence 19 

III.  The  Storming  of  the  Bastille 25 

IV.  At  midnight  a  cry  was  heard:    "Save  the  Queen,  they 
come  to  assassinate  her."          29 

V.    Wit  and  wisdom  of  the  baby  Dauphin       ....  43 

VI.    Midnight  flight  to  Varennes 57 

VII.    Massacre  at  the  Tuileries 70 

VIII.    The  King  falls  a  sacrifice  to  anarchy 80 

IX.    The  Little  King  torn  from  his  mother        ....  89 

X.    The  Little  King  did  not  die  in  the  Temple     .       .        .       .  97 

XI.    Flight  of  the  Little  King  to  America 134 

XII.    Eleazer  Williams 145 

XIII.  The  Little  King  recovers  health  and  mind        ...  153 

XIV.  Those  Long  Meadow  Da}'s 161 

XV.    Scouting  between  the  lines 177 

XVI.    The  eloquent  Missionary  to  the  Oneida      ....  180 
XVII.    The  dream  of  the  Indian  Empire  in  the  far  West      .       .190 

XVIII.    Married 209 

XIX.    All  through  the  3'ears  the  ghost  of  the  Lost  King  hovered 

about  him .217 

XX.    The  Prince  de  Joinville  crosses  America  to  interview 

Eleazer  Williams 224 

XXI.    "Paint  me  as  I  am"  .       .               247 

XXII.    Fortunes  of  a  missionary 262 

XXIII.    Family  and  Descendants 276 

XXIV.    Gold,  Silver,  brass  and  china 281 

XXV.    Library  of  Eleazer  Williams 288 

Appendix           296 

Index 310 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

The  Marseillaise  Hymn  ......     Frontispiece 

Louis  XVI,  King  of  France         .......  11 

Marie  Antoinette,  Queen  of  France           .....  19 

Versailles     ..........  27 

The  Dauphin      .........  35 

Palace  of  Tuileries           ........  43 

The  Mob  at  Varsailles           .......  61 

The  Massacre  at  The  Tuileries           .           .                       ...  71 

Marie  Antoinette  led  to  Execution      ......  95 

The  Little  King  in  the  Temple        ......  99 

Eleazer  Williams,  1806 138 

Eieazer  Williams,  1852            .......  154 

Eleazer  Williams,  1852     ........  170 

Eleazer  Williams,  1850           .......  186 

Indian  Council  at  Butte  des  Morts      ......  206 

The  Oneida  of  Today             .......  207 

Mrs.  Mary  Hobart  Williams      .......  210 

Prince  de  Joinville    ........  224 

Williams  Homestead      ........  262 

The  Glen  near  Williams  Home      ......  267 

Mr.  George  Williams,  the  last  Bourbon        .....  279 

Brass  Candle  and  Memoranda  Book        .....  281 

Williams  China,  Alex  J.  Reid  Collection      .  .  .  .  .283 

Williams  China,  Mrs.  Dunham  Collection        ....  285 

Williams  China,  Mrs.  Dunham  Collection    .....  286 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  LOST  PRINCE. 

THOUGH  written  in  popular  style,  this  book 
is  intended  as  the  real  verified  history  and 
complete  biography  of  the  Lost  Little  King, 
uncrowned  Louis  XVII,  of  Prance;  the  thrilling' 
story  of  a  real  life,  that  seems  almost  unreal 
enoug'h  for  romance.  It  has  been  a  sad  tale  of 
two  continents  for  a  century. 

A  recent  visitor  to  Paris,  writes  of  the  g"reat 
interest  taken  in  all  that  pertains  to  Marie 
Antoinette;  of  how  her  palaces  are  sought  out; 
fancy  prices  paid  for  her  pictures;  and  they  flock 
to  the  room  she  occupied;  g"aze  on  the  bed  she 
slept  in  and  examine  all  articles  once  used  by  her, 
and  never  seem  to  tire;  and  it  may  be  equally 
said  of  the  son  she  loved  so  fondly,  that  the  sad 
misfortunes  of  the  little  prince  forever  appeal  to 
our  sympathy.  We  hope  he  was  taken  alive  from 
the  Temple. 

It  is  a  half  century  since  Rev.  Dr.  Hanson's 
carefully  written  and  interesting-  "Lost  Prince," 
published  by  Harpers,  first  collected  the  evidence 
which  tended  to  prove  the  identity  of  Louis  XVII 
with  Eleazer  Williams.  For  obvious  reasons  the 
escape  of  the  little  King-  from  the  Temple  has 
been  persistently  denied  in  certain  quarters- 
Since  his  reported  death  France  has  been  ruled 
by  Napoleon,  the  restored  Bourbons,  Orleans, 
little  Napoleon  and  ag^ain  a  Republic,  powerful 
interests  which  have  always  been  averse  to  his 
discovery.  Since  the  eloquent  Dr.  Hanson  wrote 
there  has  been  disclosed  and  brought  to  light 
many  new  facts  which  tend  to  strengthen  the 
view  he  contended  for. 


There  are  breaks  still  remaining  in  the  testi- 
mony, else  there  would  be  no  mystery.  The 
object  of  this  work  is  to  present  the  whole  case 
as  it  appears  to  date. 

It  is  true  that  some  references  might  have  been 
stated  more  positively,  but  such  as  have  been 
published  heretofore  have  in  a  general  way  been 
stated  in  substance.  All  the  new  facts  which 
could  be  gathered  from  old  people  or  letters  and 
journals  have  been  searched  out  as  well  as  wide 
correspondence  could  disclose  them.  Hundreds 
of  published  articles  and  works  have  been  read 
and  their  substance  given  here  when  of  sufficient 
importance.  The  authority  for  each  statement 
we  have  intended  to  give  in  its  connection.  We 
have  sought  to  impartially  state  the  whole  case 
as  a  lawyer  should  to  the  Court,  conscious  that 
the  dignity  of  the  profession  is  not  involved  in 
the  case;  yet  always  being  careful  to  enquire  if  it 
was  permissible  to  make  the  statement.  Much 
of  the  evidence  we  are  aware,  would  not  be  ad- 
mitted in  American  courts,  though  it  would  be 
allowed  in  those  of  France.  Again  there  are 
sources  of  historical  matter  admitted  in  the 
learning  of  schools  which  come  to  us  in  shapes, 
no  court  would  allow  in  testimony,  which  the 
dignity  of  time  will  not  permit  us  to  ignore.  The 
progress  made  in  restoring  the  list  of  Rev. 
"Williams'  rare  library  and  rich  china  and  brass 
has  disclosed  a  side  of  his  nature  little  known 
and  of  more  value  than  an  antiquarian  pastijie. 

If  the  work  discloses  nothing  more  than  a  great 
American  missionary,  we  shall  yet  feel  it  has  not 
been  in  vain.  Publius  V.  Lawson. 

Menasha,  Wise,  March  24,  1905. 


Louis  XVI,  King  of  France 

Father  of  the  lost  Prince,  from  a  painting  in  the  Louvre. 


PRINCE  OR  CREOLE 


THE    PRINCE    IS   BORN. 

FOR  seven  years  after  her  marriag"e,  Marie 
Antoinette  had  no  hope  of  motherhood,  but 
on  December  19,  1778,  during"  the  American 
Revolution,  Madam  was  born.  The  etiquette  of 
allowing  all  persons  of  every  rank,  indiscrimi- 
nately to  enter  the  room  at  the  moment  of  the 
birth  of  princes,  originated  in  the  necessit3^of  the 
public  witnessing  legitimacy,  and  was  observed 
so  literally,  that  '-'torrents  of  inquisitive  persons 
poured  into  the  chamber."  The  chamber  was 
packed  with  a  motley  crowd.  "Two  savayards 
got  upon  the  furniture  to  see  over  their  heads." 
The  noise  and  the  knowledge  of  the  sex  of  the 
infant,  made  the  Queen  faint.  The  Doctor  ex- 
claimed: "Give  her  air,  warm  water,  she  must 
be  bled  in  the  foot."  The  king  wrenched  open 
the  windows.  The  Princess  Lamballe  was  car- 
ried insensible  from  the  room.  The  people  were 
urged  out  of  the  room,  some  of  them  dragged  out 
by  their  coat  collars.  The  cruel  etiquette  of  pub- 
lic accoucheur  was  ever  after  abolished.  The 
royal  family  wished  for  a  priuce;  but  the  Queen 
pressed  the  baby  princess  to  her  heart,  as  she 
said:  "Poor  little  one,  you  are  not  what  was 
wished  for,  but  none  the  less  dear  to  me.     A  son 

11 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

would  have  been  the  property  of  the  state,  you 
shall  be  mine."  Great  rejoicing  celebrated  the 
birth  of  the  princess,  the  theatres  were  free,  the 
people  sang: 

A  Dauphin  we  asked  of  our  Queen; 
A  princess  announces  him  near: 
Since  one  of  the  graces  is  seen, 
Young-  cupid  will  quickly  appear. 

The  princess  was  named  Marie  Therese  Char- 
lotte, but  known  as  Madam  Royal,  to  distinguish 
her  from  the  sisters  and  aunts  of  the  King-  at  Ver- 
sailles. She  was  afterward  in  the  Temple  prison 
with  her  brother  and  the  King  and  Queen.  Early 
betrothed  to  the  Ducde  Angouleme,  son  of  Count 
de'  Artois,  she  married  him  after  the  Revolution. 
Several  weeks  after  the  birth  of  the  princess,  the 
cure  sent  to  the  Queen  her  wedding  ring,  which 
he  had  received  under  the  seal  of  confession,  with 
an  avowal  that  it  was  stolen  seven  years  before, 
to  be  used  in  sorceries  to  prevent  her  having  any 
children.  The  hopes  of  all  classes  were  crowned 
with  universal  joy  on  the  birth  of  the  first  Dau- 
phin in  1781.  This  young  prince  whose  robust 
health  and  precocious  intelligence  aroused  the 
greatest  hopes  for  a  future  great  king,  suddenly 
became  affected  with  rickets  and  died  at  Meudon 
in  the  month  of  June,  1789;  but  in  1785  the  Queen 
had  given  birth  to  Louis  Charles  of  France,  Duke 
of  Normandy,  who  now  at  four  years  of  age  be- 
came Dauphin  and  through  the  terrible  years  of 

12 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

his  childhood  was  destined  to  witness  the  most 
horrible  scenes  of  the  French  Revolution,  him- 
self a  victim  of  its  awful  punishments,  to  lose 
both  father  and  mother  by  the  guillotine,  to  re- 
main uncrowned  Louis  XVII,  and  his  history 
mysteriously  obscured  to  save  his  life.  This  is 
the  prince  who  gives  title  to  this  book  "Prince  or 
Creole,"  by  a  later  obscurity  of  his  life,  when 
found  on  the  forest  banks  of  Lake  George,  then 
a  wild  uninhabited  portion  of  the  United  States 
among  the  American  Indians  and  claimed  by  them 
as  their  child. 

The  Duke  of  Normandy  was  born  March  27, 
1785,  in  the  palace  of  Versailles.  At  his  birth 
the  mad  rush  of  the  crowd  was  not  permitted  as 
on  the  birth  of  Madam.  The  high  officials  and 
princes  present  were  recommended  as  sufficient 
witnesses  of  legitimacy.  The  Duchesse  dePolig- 
nac  was  appointed  state  governess  to  the  "chil- 
dren of  France,"  with  the  use  of  splendid  apart- 
ments in  the  palace.  The  beautiful  lady,  by  her 
modest  and  gentle  manners,  had  long  been  a  fav- 
orite and  confidential  friend  of  the  Queen,  much 
to  the  chagrin  of  others  less  favored.  The  Queen 
was  pleased  to  have  this  opportunity  to  favor  her 
with  this  position,  more  especially  as  it  would 
give  the  Queen  the  easier  access  to  her  children 
at  all  hours,  as  she  dearly  loved  them,  and  wished 
to  have  them  by  her  as  much  as  possible.  This 
period  was  perhaps  the  happiest  of  her  life. 

13 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 


Her  children  engrossed  her  thoug-hts  and  every 
moment  of  her  time  not  taken  up  by  necessary 
affairs  incident  to  her  high  position.  She  had 
now  been  in  France  so  long  she  had  nearly  for- 
gotten her  native  tongue.  One  day  the  Queen  re- 
quested a  German  Baroness  to  speak  Dutch  to  her. 
After  listening  to  the  language,  she  remarked: 
"I  am  glad  to  hear  again  the  old  Dutch ;  it  is  a  fine 
language;  but  French,  when  spoken  by  my  child- 
ren seems  to  me  the  sweetest  language  in  the 
world!"  Her  youngest  child,  little  Princess  Sophie 
died  at  the  age  of  eleven  months,  while  at  the  same 
time  the  delicate  condition  of  the  first  Dauphin  did 
not  improve,  causing  her  great  anxiety.  The  Queen 
took  refuge  at  Little  Trianon  to  indulge  her 
grief  alone,  asking  Madam  Elizabeth  sister  of  the 
King,  whom  she  loved  to  come  with  her.  "We 
shall  weep  together  over  the  death  of  my  poor 
little  angel.  I  need  all  your  heart  to  comfort 
mine, " '  was  the  message  she  had  sent  to  Elizabeth. 

The  birth  of  the  Duke  of  Normandy,  the  second 
Dauphin,  by  securing  the  succession  to  the  crown, 
would  at  an  earlier  time  have  been  hailed  with 
great  rejoicing,  but  so  many  ambitious  intrigues 
at  court,  unable  to  obtain  the  favor  of  the  Queen, 
had  easily  poisoned  public  opinion  against  "the 
Austrian"  as  they  ungallantly  called  the  Queen; 
and  the  happy  birth  of  the  second  Dauphin,  gave 
notice  to  the  Queen  of  the  unfortunate  change  in 
public    opinion,    by   the    silence  of   the    people. 

14 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

When  soon  after  she  went  to  Paris  for  her  thanks- 
giving- service  at  the  ancient  Cathedral,  the  cold 
reception  by  the  populace  caused  her  the  most 
painful  surprise.  She  had  wished  to  take  the 
Dauphin  with  her  and  his  presence  might  have 
changed  her  reception;  but  the  wife  of  one  of  the 
princes  claimed  the  right  of  the  seat  next  the 
Queen  in  the  carriage,  and  would  accept  no  other 
seat.  The  Dauphin  could  have  no  other  seat  hav- 
ing precedence  over  the  princess.  The  dispute 
was  settled  by  leaving  the  Dauphin  at  home. 
Wherever  she  went  during  the  day's  ceremonies, 
she  was  received  in  dead  silence.  Mortified  be- 
yond endurance  by  this  conduct  of  the  peoj^le,  as 
soon  as  she  reached  the  Paris  palace  of  the  King, 
the  Tuileries,  she  refused  to  see  the  courtiers  as- 
sembled to  greet  her,  but  quickl}"  gaining  her 
apartments  b}^  a  back  stair,  followed  by  her  good 
companion  Madam  Elizabeth,  she  burst  into  tears, 
repeating:  "What  have  I  done  to  them?  What 
have  I  done?" 

On  the  walls  of  the  palace  of  Versailles  there 
still  hangs  a  charming  painting  by  Madam  Le- 
brun,  of  the  Queen  in  her  apartments,  surrounded 
b}^  her  three  children  and  the  empty  cradle  of  lit- 
tle Sophie  covered  with  a  dark  veil.  She  holds 
on  her  lap  the  little  Due  de  Normandie,  the  sec- 
ond Dauphin,  then  a  babe  in  arms. 

Driven  to  desperation  by  the  state  of  the  finan- 
ces, Necker  the  man  in  charge  of  ways  and  means, 

15 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

a  vain  though  intelligent  financier,  tried  econo- 
my as  the  great  Turgot  had  done,  and  like  him 
was  assailed  by  all  who  flourished  on  abuses. 
Necker  resigned.  Colonne  a  bold,  ambitious  man, 
came  into  office.  Though  recommended  by  her 
Polignace  friends,  the  Queen  did  not  approve  of 
Colonne,  and  had  remarked  in  the  hearing"  of  his 
friends:  "That  the  finances  of  France  passed 
alternatel}^  from  the  hands  of  an  honest  man  into 
those  of  a  skillful  knave. "  Colonne  had  but  just 
been  sworn  into  office  and  for  the  first  time  in 
conference  with  the  King,  when  he  remarked: 
"Sir  the  comptrollers  general  have  many  means 
of  paying  their  debts;  I  have  at  this  moment  two 
hundred  and  twent}'  thousand  livres  to  pay  on  de- 
mand. I  thought  it  right  to  tell  your  Majesty, 
and  leave  everything  to  your  goodness."  The 
King  astonished  at  such  language,  stared  a  mo- 
ment at  his  new  minister,  walked  to  his  desk, 
then  turning  to  Colonne,  gave  him  the  means  to 
discharge  his  private  debts.  Meeting  with  M.  de 
Machault,  the  new  finance  minister  said  to  him: 
"If  my  own  affairs  had  not  been  in  such  a  bad 
state,  I  should  not  have  undertaken  those  of 
France."  He  dismayed  men  of  foresight  and  ex- 
perience, but  the  public  was  charmed,  as  were  the 
courtiers.  He  borrowed  money  to  pay  all  man- 
ner of  arrears,  paying  as  high  as  eleven  per  cent. 
"A  man  who  wants  to  borrow,"  he  said  "must 
appear  rich,  and  to  do  so  must  dazzle  by  his  ex- 

16 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

penditures.  Economy  is  good  for  nothing;,  it 
warns  those  who  have  money  not  to  lend  it." 
New  public  works  on  a  gigantic  scale  were  be- 
gun. Great  harbors,  fortifications  and  ships  were 
constructed  and  begun.  "Money  abounds  in  the 
Kingdom,"  he  told  the  King.  "The  people  never 
had  more  work.  Lavishness  rejoices  their  eyes.  " 
His  practice  tallied  with  his  theories.  The  cour- 
tiers hadrecoveredthe  golden  age;  it  was  scarcely 
necessar}''  to  solicit  the  ro5"al  favor.  ""When  I 
saw  everybody  holding  out  hands,  I  held  my  hat, " 
said  one  prince.  But  after  several  years,  even 
the  audacitj"  of  Colonne  was  at  an  end.  He  wrote 
the  King,  that  though  there  were  but  two  bags  of 
twelve  hundred  livres  each  in  the  royal  treasury 
when  he  came  in,  and  he  had  given  the  treasury 
a  momentary  credit,  to  "the  terrible  embarrass- 
ment concealed  beneath  the  appearance  of  the 
happiest  tranquility,"  it  must  be  confessed  that 
France  is  only  kept  ujd  at  this  moment  by  arti- 
fice. If  the  illusion  were  destroj^ed,  what  would 
become  of  us  with  a  deficit  of  a  hundred  million 
livres  a  year."  He  proposed  the  calling  of  the 
Assembly  of  Notables  to  design  some  remedy. 
There  had  been  but  five  such  assemblies  in  the 
history  of  France,  and  the  last  was  in  1626,  one 
hundred  and  sixty-one  years  before.  The  Nota- 
bles, one  hundred  and  thirty-seven  in  number, 
were  besides  seven  royal  princes,  the  titled  peers, 
high  clergy  and  presidents  of  parliaments.     The 

17 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

state  of  the  finances  was  laid  before  them,  and 
they  were  implored  to  decree  an  equal  distribu- 
tion of  taxes  by  which  they  themselves  should  bear 
part  of  the  burden.  Violent  opposition  was 
encountered.  The  correctness  of  Colonne's  state- 
ments were  challenged.  All  were  against  any 
chang'e  in  the  ancient  methods;  the  nobles  and 
clergy  because  they  would  not  pay  taxes  and  the 
others  because  they  disliked  the  intimation  that 
their  popular  enthusiasm  had  involved  the  crown 
in  the  immense  expenditure  of  the  American  war, 
and  the  war  with  England.  The  amount  of  addi- 
tional taxes  required  to  meet  the  annual  obliga- 
tions was  equal  to  thirty  million  dollars,  a  small 
sum  for  a  great  nation  to  meet.  After  a  stormy 
and  useless  session  of  three  months,  the  assem- 
bly dissolved.  Not  willing  to  3^ield  a  small  part 
of  their  fortune  for  the  public  credit,  these  nota- 
bles who  held  two  thirds  of  the  property  of 
Prance,  blindly  persisting  in  their  one  sided 
method,  brought  about  conditions  within  five 
years,  which  in  the  great  Revolution  lost  to  them 
all  their  property  and  most  of  their  lives.  The 
"Assembly  of  Notables  had  failed  like  all  the  at- 
tempts at  reform  made  in  succession  by  Louis 
XVI's  advisers."  It  had  revealed  to  the  country 
the  bad  state  of  the  finances.  It  had  taught  the 
people  the  firm  resolve  of  the  privileged  classes 
to  defeat  reforms,  which  affected  their  interests; 
and  the  "salutary  habit  of  thinking-  about  public 
affairs."  It  was  "an  immense  stride  towards  the 
Revolution." 

18 


Marie  Antoinette  Queen  of  France 

Mother  of  the  Lost  Prince,  from  a  painting  in  the  Louvre. 


II 


MARIE    ANTOINETTE  APPEARS  FOR  THE  LAST   TIME 
IN   REGAL   MAGNIFICENCE 

FIFTEEN  years  had  rolled  by  since  King- 
Louis  XV  had  gone  to  his  dishonored  grave; 
and  on  the  mighty  current  bearing  France 
toward  reform,  dragging  her  into  the  Revolution, 
King  Louis  XVI,  honest  and  sincere,  weak  and 
undecided  as  he  was  good,  "was  still  blindly 
seeking  to  clutch  the  helm  which  was  slij^ping 
from  his  feeble  hands."  The  King  at  this  period 
has  been  pictured  as  having  fine  features,  though 
impressed  with  melancholy;  his  walk  was  heavy 
and  unmajestic,  and  person  and  hair  much  neg- 
lected. His  voice  was  not  agreeable,  and  when 
excited  was  shrill.  He  had  a  taste  for  study,  and 
read  much,  knew  the  English  language  and  could 
translate  Milton.  He  was  a  skillful  geographer 
and  fond  of  drawing  and  coloring  maps;  per- 
fectly well  versed  in  history.  His  mechanical 
tastes  led  him  to  practice  at  the  forge  in  making 
locks  and  tools,  and  working  copper.  He  made 
an  excellent  copper  globe  for  the  study  of  the 
earth  which  is  still  preserved  in  the  Mazarin 
library,  having  himself  invented  and  made  the 
mechanism  with  which  it  was  operated.  The  King 
had  been  born  weak  and  delicate,  but  from  the 

19 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

age  of  twenty-four  possessed  a  robust  constitu- 
tion. Instances  of  his  strength  were  often  men- 
tioned at  court.  He  inherited  it  from  his  mother, 
who  was  a  Saxon  princess  whose  family  were 
celebrated  for  years  for  robustness.  The  memory 
of  the  King  for  names,  items,  figures  and  events 
was  remarkable.  One  day  the  minister  had  gone 
over  accounts  with  him,  when  he  pointed  to  an 
item  sa3ing,  "this  is  a  double  charge,  bring  me 
last  year's  accounts,  and  I  will  show  you."  He 
would  not  permit  an  injustice.  As  a  man  of  know- 
ledge, an  accountant,  and  of  honesty  and  kind- 
ness he  was  superior;  but  as  a  man  of  will 
amid  conflicting  opinions,  he  was  devoid  of  will. 
Though  he  knew  which  opinion  was  best  he  was 
easily  influenced.  He  was  a  good  husband,  a 
virtuous  man,  a  tender  father  and  an  indulgent 
master.  In  the  times  in  which  he  lived  it  was  an 
extreme  virtue  that  he  did  not  drink,  gamble  or 
consort  with  women.  Austere  and  rigid  respect- 
ing the  laws  of  the  church,  he  fasted  throughout 
the  whole  of  Lent;  but  the  wisdom  of  the  age  had 
disposed  his  mind  toward  toleration. 

At  last  being  greatl}-  interested  in  having  nu- 
merous reforms  brought  about  in  the  ancient 
customs  and  laws  of  the  kingdom,  and  opposed 
in  these  just  measures  by  the  priviledged  classes, 
the  courts  and  Parliaments,  the  King  5delded  to 
the  constant  cr}^  for  the  assembling  of  the  States 
General.     The  edict  was  issued  August  8,  1788, 

20 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

convoking"  the  States  General  on  May  1,  1789. 
This  was  the  beginning-  of  the  end  of  the  monarchy. 
It  was  decreed  that  it  should  contain  at  least  one 
thousand  members,  composed  one  half  of  the 
tiers  etat,  third  estate,  who  were  of  the  untitled 
commons  or  people.  The  other  members  were  the 
noblesse  and  clergy.  Amid  the  whirl  of  passion- 
ate discussion  brought  out  by  the  coming  session, 
Louis  XVI,  though  of  even  temperament,  was 
greatly  discouraged  and  troubled.  While  attend- 
ing the  funeral  of  his  minister  Vergennes,  he  said 
mournfully,  that  he  wished  it  had  been  his  fate 
to  lie  down  beside  him.  Marie  Antoinette  was 
greatly  alarmed  at  the  threatening  aspect  of  af- 
fairs. She  was  opposed  to  the  calling  of  the 
States  General.  She  had  three  children,  and 
felt  the  anxietj'  of  a  mother. 

Within  a  few  3^ears  a  change  had  come  over  the 
gay  society  of  Paris.  The  palaces  were  crowded 
with  politicians  of  both  sexes,  discussing  new  the- 
ories of  social  and  civic  reform.  There  was  a 
rage  for  republican  simplicity.  The  smart  set  in 
the  salon  of  Madam  Polignac  was  infected,  as 
was  also  the  King's  brother,  the  Due  de  Artois 
and  a  number  of  the  princes.  These  new  republi- 
cans were  offensive  to  the  Queen,  and  incurred 
her  displeasure. 

The  descendant  of  the  Orleans  branch  of  the 
Bourbons  was  the  chief  mischief  maker  in  these 
turbulent  times,  as   if  fate  determined  to  leave 

21 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

nothing-  undone  to  produce  disorder,  it  gave  to 
the  world  a  man  who,  with  means  and  opportun- 
ity, set  himself  to  destroy  the  monarch}^  and  ex- 
alt himself  on  its  ruins.  He  did  destroy  the  mon- 
archy, the  King-  and  his  family,  but  also  lost  his 
own  head  in  the  chaos  of  the  Reign  of  Terror  he 
had  brought  about.  He  was  Louis  Philippe, 
Duke  de  Orleans,  great  grandson  of  the  Regent 
Orleans.  Though  the  Duke  was  guillotined  in 
the  Revolution,  his  son  the  Duke  de  Chartres, 
who  took  some  part  in  the  Revolution,  lived 
through  the  3^ears  of  Napoleon,  and  ultimately 
rose  to  temporary  distinction  as  Louis  Philipj^e, 
King-  of  the  French,  and  whose  son,  the  Prince  de 
Joinville  came  to  America  in  1841,  to  meet  Eleazer 
Williams,  the  lost  Prince,  as  related  in  this 
narrative. 

By  the  death  of  his  father,  in  1785,  the  Duke  of 
Orleans  inherited  rich  domains  and  palaces  with 
a  princely  revenue;  and  this  patrimony  was  so 
enormously  increased  by  his  marriage  with  the 
daughter  of  the  Duke  of  Penthievre,  tha't  his  an- 
nual income  reached  two  and  a  half  million  dol- 
lars. He  was  said  to  be  the  richest  man  in  P'rance; 
but  he  was  also  the  most  unscrupulous,  and  a  lib- 
ertine, keeping  wanton  women  in  his  own  palace, 
to  the  scandal  of  his  famil3^  His  home  was 
the  famed  Palais  Royal,  a  massive  building  in  the 
heart  of  Paris,  still  standing-,  built  by  Cardinal 
Richelieu  in  1629.     Orleans  had  surrounded  the 

22 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

g-ardens  with  tenements,  still  existing",  which  he 
letfor  commercial  purposes  to  increase  his  income. 
The  cafes  on  the  groimd  floor  became  the  favorite 
rendezvous  of  democrats  and  malcontents,  from 
which  the  call  "to  arms"  was  made,  that  raised 
the  mob  which  stormed  the  Bastille.  Orleans 
aiming-  to  destroy  the  royal  family,  joined  the 
popular  party,  by  whom  with  subsidies  of  money, 
he  expected  to  accomplish  his  purpose,  to  have 
himself  crowned  King.  Inspired  by  the  design 
for  a  number  of  years  he  had  caused  to  be  circu- 
lated fabricated  scandals,  about  the  Queen  and 
royal  family.  Plots  were  designed  to  undermine 
the  government,  and  a  number  of  riots  set  in 
motion.  He  was  a  member  of  the  States  General, 
where  he  assumed  the  name  of  Egalite,  which  he 
made  infamous.  The  Duke  of  Orleans,  even  as 
Duke  de  Chartress  was  never  a  favorite  of  the 
Queen.  He  was  only  tolerated  at  court,  because 
of  the  lovliness  of  his  wife,  and  his  intimacj^  with 
Count  de  Artois.  The  King  often  expressed  his 
abhorence  of  the  Duke's  character.  The  winter 
before  the  meeting  of  the  States  General,  was 
severe.  The  harvest  had  been  bad;  the  suffering 
was  extreme.  Agitators  availed  themselves  of  the 
misery  to  excite  popular  passion.  Charity  and 
fear  opened  both  hearts  and  purses.  The  gifts  of 
Orleans  to  the  Paris  poor,  looked  suspicious. 
The  archbishop  of  Paris  distributed  all  he  possess- 
ed, and  got  in  debt  one  hundred  thousand  dollars 

23 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

to  relieve  his  flock.  Tiie  finest  houses  were 
opened  to  wretches  dying  of  cold  and  anyone 
might  go  in  and  warm  themselves  in  the  great 
halls. 

The  States  General  met  on  Ma}'  5,  1789,  in  a 
sjiacious  hall  prepared  for  the  purpose  in  Ver- 
sailles. There  was  a  vast  concourse  of  people  on 
the  occasion.  At  one  end  of  the  hall  was  a  throne 
for  the  King,  with  seats  for  the  Queen  and 
princes.  The  clergy  had  seats  on  the  right;  the 
nobles  on  the  left,  and  the  third  estate  in  front. 
The  hall  was  fitted  in  royal  magnificence.  The 
Queen  on  this  opening  day  of  the  States  General 
and  the  Revolution,  appeared  for  the  last  time 
in  her  life,  in  regal  robes  and  queenly  splendor. 
The  Duke  of  Orleans  had  arranged  a  low  insult 
to  the  Queen  on  this  May  morning.  As  the  royal 
procession  moved  toward  the  convention  through 
the  mass  of  people,  a  crowd  of  low  women,  whom 
he  had  engaged  at  an  expense  of  half  a  million 
livres,  screamed  into  her  face:  "Orleans  forever! 
Orleans  forever,"  By  the  suddeness  of  tHe  insult 
the  Queen  nearly  fainted,  but  loud  cries  of, 
"Long  live  the  King,"  restored  her,  and  the  pro- 
cession moved  on. 


24 


III. 

THE    STORMING   OF   THE   BASTILLE. 

THE  States  General  which  had  not  met  since 
1615,  one  hundred  and  seventy-four  years 
before,  was  not  a  leg^islative  body,  but  depu- 
ted by  their  several  electors  to  present  to  the 
throne,  complaints  which  formed  petitions  to  the 
King-,  who  was  the  real  legislature.  They  did 
have  the  authoritj'  to  sanction  methods  of  taxa- 
tion. In  this  assembl}^  the  King  had  authorized 
the  third  estate  to  be  equal  to  the  nobles  and 
clerg}',  and  their  number  was  567;  while  the  num- 
ber o  f  the  nobles  and  clergy  were  four  less  or 
563.  By  mismanagement  before  the  meeting,  it 
had  not  been  ruled  by  the  government,  whether 
the  three  orders  should  deliberate  separately  or 
collectively  in  one  body,  and  no  settled  policy  of 
management  had  been  determined  ujDon.  About 
half  the  third  estate  were  needy  provincial  attor- 
neys; the  remainder  were  merchants  and  farmers; 
and  there  were  few  men  of  independent  means. 

When  the  members  of  the  States  General  vis- 
ited Versailles  three  days  before  their  session  to 
be  presented  to  the  King,  the  nobles  and  clergy 
were  admitted  at  once,  but  the  third  estate  were 
left  without  the  gates  in  a  rain  storm.  They  be- 
came angry  and  at  their  clamor  the  gates  were 

25 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

opened  to  them.  The  laced  coats  and  decorations 
of  nobles  and  superb  vestments  of  the  clerg-y, 
made  a  strong-  contrast  to  the  modest  cassocks 
and  sombre  costumes  of  the  third  estate.  By  an 
oversight  of  the  government  in  the  apportion- 
ment of  the  building  for  the  meeting,  there  was 
the  throne  room  of  the  three  orders,  a  room  for 
the  noblesse,  and  one  for  the  clergy,  but  none  for 
the  third  estate,  who  remained  therefore  estab- 
lished in  the  throne  room,  which  was  fitted  up 
with  seats  and  boxes  for  spectators  who  occu- 
pied them.  In  possession  of  the  main  room  the 
third  estate  was  in  a  strong  situation,  and  master 
of  the  position  in  which  the  other  orders  must 
come  to  them.  They  maintained  the  delibera- 
tions should  be  together  in  one  body,  and  after  a 
contest  lasting  several  weeks,  the  third  estate 
declining  to  proceed  until  the  nobles  and  clergy 
should  sit  with  them,  finally  with  a  confidence 
sustained  by  the  general  excitement  in  their  favor 
assumed  the  power  to  act  as  if  it  embraced  all  the 
members.  When  the  King  had  said  to  them,  they 
should  disperse,  the  fiery  orator  Count  Mirabeau 
rose  at  the  entrance  of  the  master  oi  ceremonies 
and  thundered :  '  'Go  and  tell  those  who  sent  j^ou, 
that  we  are  here  by  the  will  of  the  people,  and 
that  we  shall  not  budge  save  at  the  point  of  the 
bayonet." 

The  Revolution  was  begun.     The  third  estate 
were  soon  joined  by  the  nobles  and  clergy,  elected 

26 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

M.  Baill}'  president,  and  constituted  itself  the 
National  Assembly  without  any  authority  but  its 
own  will,  and  became  a  legislative  body. 

The  excitement  in  Paris  was  intense.  The  pub- 
lic press  teemed  with  praise  of  the  third  estate, 
and  orators  harang^ued  crowds  of  people  in  the 
streets.  The  traitor  Orleans  was  busy  inciting 
mobs  and  insurrection,  which  being  exposed  to 
the  people,  caused  them  to  throw  his  bust  into  the 
gutter.  Necker,  the  King's  popular,  but  negli- 
gent minister  of  finance,  riding  that  way,  stopped 
his  carriage  and  ordered  the  bust  to  be  taken  up 
and  cleaned.  It  was  crowned  with  laurels,  and 
with  Necker's  own  bust,  carried  to  Versailles. 
The  King's  aunts  met  the  procession  on  the  road 
while  they  were  returning  home  from  the  country, 
and  ordered  the  guards  to  send  the  men  away  who 
bore  the  busts.  Necker  was  hence  dismissed, 
which  caused  mobs  to  run  riot  in  the  streets.  By 
the  middle  of  July  the  French  guards  and  other 
regiments  fraternized  with  the  mob.  There  was 
fighting  and  bloodshed  in  the  streets,  and  prisons 
broken  open  releasing  the  prisoners.  The  civil 
magistry  of  Paris  sided  with  the  disorder.  In 
this  daily  riot,  the  old  white  flag  of  the  Bourbons 
was  displaced  by  the  red,  white  and  blue  banner 
of  rebellion.  The  Tricolor  became  the  flag  of  the 
Revolution.  A  new  militia  styled  the  National 
Guard  was  organized.  Orleans'  agents  were  busy. 
With  fifty  thousand  livres  of  hisraone}',  the  mob 

27 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

rushed  for  the  arms  stored  at  the  hospital  of  old 
soldiers,  Hotel  des  Invalids,  which  was  pillaged. 
The  old  governor  had  twenty  men  at  work  all 
night  to  remove  the  locks  from  the  muskets, 
amounting-  to  twenty-eight  thousand.  But  they 
had  only  unscrewed  twenty  locks  as  they  sympa- 
thized with  the  mob.  Now  twenty-eight  thousand 
armed  men  raised  the  crj^,  "To  the  Bastille." 
This  was  an  ancient  fortress  four  hundred  j^ears 
old,  on  the  old  wall  of  Paris.  Its  massive  stone 
walls  were  ten  feet  thick.  Its  eight  towers  rose 
grim  and  sombre  just  at  the  entrance  to  the  city, 
while  the  cannon  on  its  battlements  commanded 
the  surrounding  streets.  It  was  used  infrequently 
now  as  a  prison  of  the  higher  orders,  and  in  its 
conduct  had  not  appealed  to  the  ill  will  of  the 
people  in  an}'  way.  It  was  provisioned  with  two 
sacks  of  flour  and  i^  arrisoned  with  138  men,  mostly 
invalids.  The  mob  of  one  hundred  thousand 
stormed  the  stout  stone  towers.  The}'  cut  off  the 
water  suppl5^  The  commander  was  prevented 
from  blowing  himself  up  with  the  magazine.  On 
the  surrender  of  the  soldiers,  the  populace 
enragedbecap.se  some  of  the  mob  were  killed,  tore 
the  commander  to  pieces.  The  Bastille  was 
leveled  to  the  ground.  A  column  of  Liberty  now 
stands  in  its  stead  in  the  Place  de  la  Bastille. 
The  massive  iron  forged  key  of  the  fortress,  sent 
to  General  Washington  by  Lafayette,  still  re- 
mains in  its  glass  case  on  the  walls  of  the  old 
hallway  at  Mount  Vernon. 

28 


IV 


AT    MIDNIGHT    A     CRY     WAS    HEARD:     "SAVE    THE 
QUEEN,  THEY  ARE  COME  TO  ASSASSINATE  HER.  " 

THE  Dauphin  died  within  a  month  of  the 
first  assembling  of  the  States  General;  and 
the  disturbed  condition  of  the  country;  with 
the  raising-  of  the  Paris  mobs  and  sack  of  the 
Bastille;  the  murder  of  its  Governor,  and  the 
Ma3^or  of  Paris;  the  threats  against  some  of  the 
King's  brothers  and  royal  families,  overwhelmed 
the  Queen  with  grief.  She  desired  that  the  King 
should  come  to  some  definite  understanding  with 
the  members  of  the  Assembly,  as  the  States  Gen- 
eral was  now  called,  and  urged  the  King  to 
arrange  it.  The  day  after  the  sack  of  the  Bastille 
the  King  did  attend  the  Assembly  for  this  purpose. 
He  went  on  foot  without  pomp  or  ceremony,  sur- 
rounded only  by  his  brothers.  He  stood  before 
the  Assembly,  uncovered,  and  assured  that  body 
that  he  was  firmly  determined  to  support  their 
measures,  and  aid  them  in  every  way.  As  an 
earnest  of  his  intentions,  he  informed  them  that 
he  had  ordered  the  troops  to  leave  Paris  and  Ver- 
sailles. His  speech  was  hailed  with  enthusiasm 
and  prolonged  cries  of  vive  le  Roi.  On  the  King's 
return  on  foot  to  the  palace,  the  deputies  crow- 
ded after  him,  forming  his  escort.     Great  crowds 

29 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

gathered  and  throng-ed  the  court  yard  of  the  cas- 
tle. There  was  an  immense  concourse  of  people. 
They  demanded  to  see  the  King-  and  Queen  and  the 
children.  The  Queen  took  the  little  Dauphin  in 
her  arms,  and  with  Madam  by  her  side  appeared 
on  the  balcony,  where  she  w^as  received  with  loud 
cries  from  the  vast  audience  filling  every  avenue 
of:  "vive  le  Roil  vive  le  Reine!"  with  here  and 
there  discordant  notes  of  "vive  le  nation!"  "vive 
d'  Orleans!" 

It  was  thoug-ht  that  the  King's  appearance  in 
Paris  would  quiet  the  disturbance,  and  though 
the  Royal  family  had  thought  of  tiight,  and  even 
had  the  carriages  ordered  up  for  the  journey, 
the  King  thought  best  to  go  and  visit  Paris, 
Throngs  of  people  filled  the  streets,  but  did  not 
hail  their  King  with  joy,  until  when  he  appeared 
at  the  Hotel  de  Ville  and  M.  Bailly  the  new 
mayor  g-ave  him  the  tri-colored  cockade,  the  em- 
blem of  the  Revolution,  which  he  placed  in  his 
hat  before  all  the  people;  then  a  great  cry  went 
up  of  '-Long  live  the  King."  The  Qu'een  on 
hearing  that  the  King-  was  bound  to  face  the  Paris 
mob,  was  frantic  with  grief.  "They  never  will  let 
him  return"  she  exclaimed.  All  day  long  she 
waited  his  return  with  conflicting  emotions.  It 
was  believed  the  King  would  be  retained  in  Paris. 
Late  in  the  evenirig  a  messenger  came  with  foam- 
ing horse  to  announce  the  King-  was  returning. 
This  filled  the  family  with  joy.     In  the  palace  at 

30 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

last  he  was  pleased  that  no  accident  had  hap- 
pened; "Happily  no  blood  has  been  shed,  and  I 
swear  that  never  shall  a  dro^D  of  French  blood  be 
spilled  by  my  order. '' 

The  troops  now  deserted  Versailles,  and  with 
them  went  many  of  the  princes,  noblesse  and 
members  of  the  Royal  family,  into  exile,  the  be- 
ginning- of  that  exodus  of  the  aristocracy  of  France 
who  emigrated  over  the  border  in  these  troubled 
times  to  the  number  of  many  thousands. 

The  clemency  of  the  King  had  little  effect  on 
the  people,  as  within  a  week,  a  story  having  been 
started  that  M.  Foulon,  the  minister  of  finance 
had  said,  the  people  if  hungry  could  eat  hay, 
was  seized  by  the  peasants  and  dragged  to  the 
Hotel  de  Ville.  His  death  cry  was  heard  in  the 
Assembly.  Some  members  and  La  Fayette  in 
vain  endeavored  to  save  the  minister.  After  tor- 
menting him  to  death  his  body  was  dragged  about 
the  streets  and  to  the  Palais  Royal,  while  his 
heart  was  cut  out  and  held  aloft  by  women  in  the 
midst  of  a  bunch  of  carnations. 

The  Duke  d'  Orleans  had  conceived  a  horrible 
consi:)iracy  to  strike  terror  through  the  provinces 
and  furnish  the  Assembly  a  pretext  for  arming 
the  people  as  a  National  guard  and  disband  all 
the  regular  troops,  which  was  accomplished. 
Orleans  distributed  through  his  agents  .six  hun- 
dred thousand  francs,  for  the  purpose  of  creating 
on  the  same  day  and  hour,    an   insurrection   to 

31 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

murder  all  the  nobility  and  burn  their  |)alaces, 
the  hideous  murder  aud  torch  of  the  incendiary- 
spread  over  France. 

The  Flanders  regiment  was  stationed  at  Ver- 
sailles, and  the  officers  had  an  audience  with  the 
Queen.  She  was  delig^hted  with  their  loyalty. 
The  bodyg-uard  at  the  palace  entertained  them  at 
a  dinner  in  the  theater  of  Versailles.  The  Queen 
sent  for  the  Dauphin  and  told  him,  "about  having 
seen  the  brave  officers;  and  how  gaily  those  good 
officers  had  left  the  palace,  declaring  they  would 
die,  rather  than  suffer  any  harm  to  come  to  him, 
or  his  papa  or  mamma;  and  that  at  that  very 
moment  they  M^ere  all  dining  at  the  theater." 
"Dining  in  the  theater,  mamma, "said  the  Prince, 
"I  never  heard  of  people  dining  in  a  theater." 
"No,  my  dear  child,  it  is  not  generally  allowed; 
but  they  are  doing  so  because  the  bodyguard 
choose  the  finest  place  to  honor  their  guests,  to 
show  how  much  they  liked  them.  "  "Oh,  mamma," 
exclaimed  the  Dauphin,  "Oh,  papa,  how  I, should 
like  to  see  them."  "Let  us  go  and  satisfy  the 
child,"  said  the  King.  The  Queen  took  the 
Dauphin  by  the  hand  and  they  all  went  across  to 
the  theater.  As  soon  as  the  royal  family  ap- 
13eared  they  were  received  with  shouts  of  enthu- 
siasm by  the  soldiers,  intoxicated  with  joy  and 
wine;  and  as  the  royal  famil}^  retired  they  were 
followed  to  the  doors  of  the  palace.  This  scene 
was  noised  about,    and  the  Assembly  pretended 

32 


PRIXCE      OR      CREOLE 

to  be  offended.  To  increase  the  dislike  for  the 
Queen  and  raise  a  riot,  Orleans  had  one  set  of 
agents,  many  of  them  dressed  in  the  liveries  of 
the  Queen,  purchase  all  the  wheat  and  send  it 
out  of  the  country.  Great  distress  was  caused 
by  this  famine,  and  to  attract  sole  credit  for 
relief,  Orleans  openly  emploj'^ed  thousands  to 
distribute  his  bounty,  and  to  spread  reports  of 
his  generosity.  However,  the  King  and  all  the 
royal  famih'  and  friends,  grieved  beyond  measure 
b}"  the  piteous  want,  distributed  privately  im- 
mense sums  for  the  relief  of  the  sufferers.  The 
plot  was  discovered  to  the  people  too  late  to 
allay  their  animosity  against  the  Queen  and  her 
august  husband. 

The  insurrection  had  begun  on  the  morning  of 
the  fifth  of  October,  by  a  young  virago  beating  a 
drum  and  shouting  for  bread.  An  infuriated 
rabble  attacked  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  which  was 
with  difficultj^  saved  from  destruction.  The  whole 
city  was  in  an  uproar.  La  Fa3'ette  at  the  head 
of  the  National  Guard  could  not  control  the  mob, 
which  shouted,  "on  to  Versailles.''  Maillard, 
prominent  among  the  insurgents  who  had  at- 
tacked the  Bastille,  took  command  of  this  army 
of  viragos.  Great  alarm  bells  were  ringing.  The 
whole  throng  was  made  up  of  the  lowest,  the 
most  degraded  women,  vagabonds,  criminals, 
man}'  drunk,  roaring  revolutionary  songs,  with 
cries  of  vengeance,  brandishing  old  guns,  swords 

33 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

and  pikes.  La  Fayette's  citizen  soldiers  frater- 
nized with  the  rioters;  but  he  supposing  his 
presence  might  prevent  violence  finally  consented 
to  go  with  them  to  Versailles. 

For  several  days  rumors  of  the  intended  attack 
had  reached  the  ro3^al  family,  but  no  measures 
had  been  taken  for  protection.  On  this  day  the 
King  had  gone  to  shoot  at  Meudon.  The  Queen 
was  enjoying  the  autumn  day  at  Little  Trinon, 
the  leaves  falling  around  her.  Suddenly  a  page 
came  hurrying  to  her  with  a  letter  with  informa- 
tion of  the  doings  in  the  city.  Marie  Antoinette 
hastened  to  leave  Trinon,  not  dreaming  it  was  the 
last  time  she  would  ever  see  her  loved  retreat 
where  she  had  spent  the  happiest  days  of  her  life. 
The  King  summoned,  returned  at  full  gallop. 
His  sister,  the  kind  Elizabeth,  having  seen  the 
crowd  in  the  distance  from  her  home  had  joined 
the  family,  and  urged  her  brother  to  now  take 
energetic  measures.  Consternation  filled  all 
breasts  and  the  carriages  w^ere  ordered  up  to 
depart.  The  Dauphin's  carriage  was  standing 
without  as  he  was  to  have  his  usual  drive. 
Changing  views  of  the  council  and  delay  finally 
rendered  it  impossible  to  fiee  as  the  carriages 
were  stoj^ped  and  sent  back.  The  women  reached 
the  palace.  The  King  distributed  money  to  them 
and  was  so  kind,  that  they  went  aw^ay  friendly. 
The  rain  fell  in  torrents,  and  it  was  hoped  it 
would  depress  the  rioters.     The  night  came  on, 

34 


THK    llALI'HIN 
Uncrowned  Louis  XVII — The  Prince  of  this  book. 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

dark  and  gloomy.  Ragg'ed  men  armed  with 
pikes,  knocked  at  the  doors  in  the  town  demanding- 
food.  The  assembly  chamber  was  overrun  with 
the  women  and  men.  There  they  ate  and  drank. 
At  the  palace  a  letter  was  received  from  La 
Fayette  announcing  his  coming.  At  ten  o'clock 
at  night  he  appeared  with  a  crowd  of  rioters  and 
twenty  thousand  national  guard.  He  went  first 
to  the  Assembly  and  assured  the  deputies  that 
order  would  be  maintained,  and  then  repaired  to 
the  palace.  Going  up  to  the  King  he  said:  "Sire, 
I  bring  you  my  head  in  the  hope  of  saving  your 
Majesty;"  declaring  that  the  large  force  he 
brought  with  him  would  preserve  order;  and  that 
he  had  patrolled  the  town  and  all  was  quiet.  He 
was  sincere  and  believed  he  understood  the  situ- 
ation. He  had  been  seventeen  hours  in  the  sad- 
dle, and  deeming  all  safe,  went  to  his  quarters  in 
the  town  to  retire;  but  he  was  not  aware  of  the 
extent  of  the  plans  of  the  traitors,  which  was 
amid  riot  and  confusion  the  nex-t  day,  for  Orleans 
to  suddenly  appear  and  be  hailed  as  King. 

After  the  horrible  expressions  of  the  women  in 
the  mob,  leveled  at  the  Queen,  the  noise  and 
excitement,  and  the  reports  brought  to  the  royal 
pair,  they  had  cause  for  the  greatest  anxiety  as 
to  the  outcome  of  the  insurrection.  The  Queen 
arranged  her  papers  and  gave  them  into  the 
charge  of  the  English  secretary  of  the  Princess 
Lamballe,  who  sewed  them  on  to  her  skirts.    The 

35 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

jewels  were  secured  for  removal.  All  prepara- 
tion was  made  for  departure.  The  Queen  at  two 
o'clock  in  the  morning-  visited  the  bed  chamber 
of  her  two  children,  and  then  told  her  attendants 
to  retire,  and  went  to  bed  herself,  and  slept,  tired 
out  by  the  excitement  of  the  day.  She  had 
agreed,  with  the  governess  of  her  children,  on  the 
least  noise  to  bring  them  to  her;  but  later  sent 
word  it  would  be  best  to  take  them  to  the  King. 
On  leaving  the  Queen 's  bed  chamber,  her  women 
alarmed  at  the  riotous  events  of  the  day  and 
vigilant  for  the  safety  of  their  Queen,  determined 
to  sit  up  and  all  remained  together  against  her 
Majesty's  bed  room  door.  "At  half  past  four  in 
the  morning,"  said  Madam  Campan,  "they  heard 
horrible  3^ells  and  discharge  of  firearms;  one  ran 
in  to  the  Queen  to  awaken  her;  my  sister  flew  to 
the  place  of  tumult;  she  opened  the  antechamber 
door  to  the  guard  room  and  beheld  one  of  the 
body  guards  attacked  by  a  mob,  his  face  covered 
with  blood.  He  called  to  her:  'Save  the  Queen, 
Madam;  they  are  come  to  assassinate  h^r."  She 
hastily  bolted  the  door,  and  bolted  the  door  on 
leaving  the  next  room.  On  reaching  the  Queen's 
chamber,  she  cried  out  to  her:  'Get  up,  Madame; 
don't  stop  to  dress,  fly  to  the  King's  apartment. ' 
The  terrified  Queen  threw  herself  out  of  bed,  and 
the  two  .ladies  guided  her  to  the  Bull's  Eye.  A 
door  which  led  from  the  Queen's  closet  to  the 
King's  apartment,  had  never  been  fastened  except 

36 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

on  her  side;  but  what  a  dreadful  moment,  it  had 
been  secured  on  the  other  side.  Repeated  knock- 
ing aroused  the  King's  servant,  who  opened  it, 
and  they  entered  the  King's  apartment.  Very- 
soon  Madam  de  Tourzel  brought  in  the  Dauphin, 
and  the  Queen  went  down  into  the  room  of  her 
daughter  b}'  an  interior  stairwa}^  and  brought  the 
child  to  the  King." 

The  insurgents  were  astir  early  in  the  morning, 
and  the  horde  swej^t  toward  the  palace.  They 
"forced  their  way  into  the  barracks  of  the  body 
guard,  and  massacred  everybody  the}"  found 
there,  except  a  few  whom  they  took  to  the  castle 
gates  for  punishment,"  says  Madam  de  Tourzel. 
"The  others  forced  the  gates  and  rushed  through 
the  courtyard  and  terrace  to  gain  an  entrance  to 
the  castle.  These  ruffians,  who  encountered  no 
obstacle,  killed  two  of  the  body  guards  who  were 
on  duty  at  the  apartments  of  the  King's  aunts, 
had  their  heads  cut  off  bj"  a  monster  in  the  gang. 
Thej"  then  went  up  the  grand  staircase  to  the 
ai^artments  of  the  King  and  Queen,  led  by  Orleans 
himself."  "Many  have  asserted,"  says  Madam 
Campan,  "that  they  recognized  the  Duke  of  Or- 
leans at  half  past  four  in  the  morning,  in  a  great 
coat  and  slouched  hat,  at  the  top  of  the  marble 
stair  case,  pointing  out  with  his  hand  the  guard 
room,  which  preceded  the  Queen's  apartments." 
The  body  guard,  though  few  in  number,  defended 
the  entrance  with  the  greatest  bravery.     Several 

37 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

were  dang'erously  wounded,  but  they  had  time  to 
shout,  "save  the  Queen"  as  related  and  delayed 
the  assailants;  "but  hardly  had  her  Majesty  left 
the  room,"  says  Madam  Tourzel,  "than  these 
wretches  forced  their  way  in  and  furious  at  not 
finding-  her  there,  they  stabbed  the  bed  with  their 
pikes,  so  as  to  leave  no  room  to  doubt  as  to  the 
crime  they  intended  to  commit." 

All  the  family  gathered  in  terror  into  the 
King's  apartments,  expecting-  the  worse  from  the 
tumult  that  raged  without.  The  guard  had  ar- 
ranged between  themselves  to  defend  each  room 
in  succession,  and  with  the  greatest  courage  they 
awaited  death.  La  Fa3'ette  now  hurried  to  the 
scene  of  carnage  and  induced  the  National  Guard 
to  defend  the  King-  and  save  the  Body  Guard. 
The  King  seeing  his  Guard  butchered  in  the 
Courtyard,  went  to  the  window  and  called  on  the 
people  to  save  their  lives.  Then  the  Body  Guard 
threw  out  their  cross  belts  and  cried,  "Long  live 
the  nation."  The  hearts  of  the  savages  were 
touched  and  they  embraced  the  Guards  they  were 
about  to  murder. 

I  he  mob  outside  called  loudly,  "The  Queen, 
Queen."  She  appeared  before  that  mass  of  in- 
surgents, walking  out  onto  the  balcon}^,  leading 
her  children.  The  murderous  throng  were  speJl- 
bound  by  the  beautiful  sight.  Then  a  tiger  voice 
cried  out:  "No  children. "  She  then  led  her  chil- 
dren back  into  the  Palace,  and  expecting  to  be 

38 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

murdered,  she  boldly  returned.  "With  her  hands 
and  eyes  raised  toward  heaven,  advanced  upon 
the  balcony,  like  a  self  devoted  victim."  The 
rabble  astonished  were  soon  crying:  "Vive  la 
Riene."  The  throng  now  began  to  cry,  "to  Paris. " 
After  the  uj^roar  had  continued  for  some  time  the 
King  faced  the  savage  horde  and  told  them  they 
would  go  to  Paris,  which  announcement  was 
greeted  with  "Long  live  the  King;"  "Long  live 
the  nation. "  As  the  King  reentered  the  room  he 
said:  "It  is  done;  this  affair  will  soon  be  ended." 
"And  with  it,"  said  the  Queen,  "the  monarchy." 
She  burst  into  a  flood  of  tears  and  exclaimed: 
"As  to  myself,  I  am  resigned  to  my  fate.  I  only 
feel  for  your  humiliated  state,  and  for  the  safety 
of  my  children." 

The  King  was  seated  in  his  carriage  at  half 
past  one.  He  sat  on  the  back  seat  with  the 
Queen.  On  the  front  seat  the  Dauphin  sat  on  the 
lap  of  Madam  Tourzel,  his  governess,  and  Madam 
Royal,  his  little  sister  sat  beside  them.  La  Fay- 
ette and  M.  d'Estaing,  commandant  rode  by  the 
doors  near  their  majesties.  The  ladies  of  the 
household  and  servants  followed  in  other  carria- 
ges., and  a  hundred  deputies  in  carriages.  Brig- 
ands bearing  the  ghastly  heads  of  the  two  body 
guards  in  triumph,  formed  the  advance,  who  had 
set  out  two  hours  earlier,  and  at  Sevre  had  com- 
pelled a  barber  to  dress  the  hair  on  their  matted 
brows.      The   poor   fellow   killed   himself    from 

39 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

horror  of  the  sight.  The  bulk  of  the  Parisian 
army,  each  soldier  having  a  loaf  of  bread  on  his 
bayonet,  followed  the  King.  The  poissards  or 
fish  women,  went  before  and  around  the  carriage, 
accomj^anied  by  an  army  of  prostitutes,  the  vile 
refuse  of  the  sex,  still  drunk  with  fury  and  wine; 
several  of  them  rode  astride  of  cannon,  boasting 
in  obscene  songs,  the  crimes  they  liad  committed 
or  witnessed.  Those  near  the  Royal  carriage 
sang  insulting  ballads  in  vulgar  reference  to  the 
Queen.  Wagons  of  wheat  and  flour  formed  a 
train  escorted  by  soldiers,  surrounded  by  women 
and  bullies,  some  armed  with  pikes.  The  women 
stopped  the  people,  and  jDointing  to  the  King's 
carriage  howled  in  their  ears:  "Cheer  up,  we 
shall  no  longer  want  bread.  We  bring  the  baker, 
the  bakers  wife,  and  the  little  baker  boy." 
Around  the  King's  carriage,  w^ere  some  of  his 
faithful  guards,  on  foot  and  horseback,  uncovered 
and  unarmed,  worn  out  with  hunger  and  fatigue. 
In  this  tumult,  clamour  and  singing,  the  motley 
rabble,  the  outpouring  and  scum  of  the  Paris  and 
Versailles  slums  stretched  over  the  dozen  miles 
of  that  beautiful  way  from  the  palace  to  the  City. 
King  Louis  XVI  and  Marie  Antoinette  looked 
back  that  bright  autumn  day  over  the  most  splen- 
did Palace  in  the  w^orld,  and  beautiful  gardens  of 
Versailles  for  the  last  time.  They  never  saw 
that  home  again  where  she  came  as  a  bride,  a 
Queen  and  mother.     The  Duke  of  Orleans  was  on 

40 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

the  Passy  road  and  his  children,  with  his  mis- 
tress, the  notorious  Madam  Genlis,  on  the  balcony 
of  a  house  along-  the  way,  which  he  had  hired  for 
them  to  witness  the  tragedy. 

The  usual  journey  of  two  hours  was  prolong-ed 
to  six,  and  when  they  reached  Paris,  they  were 
urged  ag-ainst  their  wishes  and  fatigue,  to  alight 
at  the  Hotel  de  Ville.  Here  the  jam  of  people 
obliged  them  to  quit  the  carriage,  with  great 
difficulty,  make  their  way  through  the  crowd  to 
reach  the  City  Hall.  The  little  Dauphin,  worn 
out,  was  fast  asleep  in  the  arms  of  his  governess. 
The  King  spoke  to  the  ]3eople  and  said:  "I  always 
come  with  pleasure  and  confidence  among  the 
inhabitants  of  my  good  city  of  Paris." 

At  last  this  day  of  horror  ended  by  the  Royal 
party  entering  the  Tuileries,  tired,  worn  out  and 
miserable.  Nothing  was  ready  for  them,  as  this 
ancient  castle  had  been  occupied  only  by  courtiers 
for  many  years.  The  Dauphin  passed  the  night 
without  a  guard  of  any  kind,  in  a  room  open  on 
all  sides,  and  with  doors  that  could  scarcely  be 
closed.  His  governess  pushed  the  furniture 
against  them  and  spent  the  night  seated  by  his 
side. 

In  the  morning  the  populace  swarmed  over  the 
gardens,  making  a  great  noise  out  of  curiosity  to 
see  the  Royal  family  as  the  palace  had  not  been 
occupied  by  their  monarch  since  the  days  of 
Louis  XIV.     The  youthful  Dauphin  hearing  the 

41 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

tumult  without  ran  to  his  mother.  "Oh!  mamma," 
he  cried,  "Is  today  still  j^esterday?"  He  looked 
at  his  new  home,  so  different  from  the  brilliant 
home  where  he  had  always  lived  and  said: 
"Everything  is  very  ugly  here."  The  Queen 
wrote  her  brother  Joseph  II,  Emperor  of  Austria: 
"You  have  heard  of  our  misfortune.  I  still  live, 
owing  to  Providence,  and  one  of  my  guards,  who 
was  hacked  to  pieces  in  trying  to  save  me."  To 
Princess  de  Lamballe  she  wrote:  "I  still  seem  to 
hear  the  howling  roar  of  the  crowd,  and  the  cries 
of  my  guard.  These  horrible  scenes  will  occur 
again;  but  death  has  been  too  near  for  me  to 
fear.  I  thought  I  should  be  torn  to  pieces." 
And  Edmund  Burke  w^rote  from.  England:  "It  is 
now  sixteen  years  since  I  saw  the  Queen  of 
France,  then  the  Dauphiness  at  Versailles;  and 
surely  never  lighted  on  this  orb,  which  she  hardly 
seemed  to  touch,  a  more  delightful  vision.  I  saw 
her  just  above  the  horizon,  decorating  and  cheer- 
ing the  celebrated  sphere  in  which  she  had  just 
begun  lo  move,  glittering  like  the  morning  star, 
full  of  life  and  splendor  and  joy^ — little  did  I 
dream  such  disasters  would  have  fallen  upon  her 
in  a  nation  of  gallant  men.  I  thought  ten  thou- 
sand swords  must  have  leaped  from  their  scab- 
bards to  avenge  even  a  look,  that  threatened 
her  with  insult. 


42 


V 


WIT  AND  WISDOM  OF  THE  BABY  DAUPHIN 

THE  Palais  des  Tuileries  deserves  a  passing 
notice  for  its  tragic  history.  It  was  the 
royal  palace  within  the  heart  of  Paris;  burned 
by  the  communists  in  1871,  and  has  been  mostly 
removed,  and  the  ground  added  to  the  extensive 
gardens  of  the  same  name.  The  wings  and  pavil- 
ions still  remain  as  part  of  the  Louvre  art  gal- 
lery. It  was  begun  in  1564  by  the  infamous 
Catharine  de  Medicis  and  was  cursed  by  being  the 
place  of  originating  the  massacre  of  St.  Bar- 
tholomew. The  tragedy  in  the  misfortunes  of 
France  and  Marie  Antoinette  while  resident  there 
is  one  of  the  most  horrible  incidents  of  the  Revo- 
lution; while  in  later  years  it  cursed  the  path  of 
Napoleon  who  as  first  consul  took  up  his  resi- 
dence here,  and  after  the  restoration  the  French 
Kings  lived  there  only  to  be  driven  out  by  the 
mob,  ending  the  Bourbons  with  the  flight  of  Louis 
Philippe  in  1848.  Napoleon  III  fated  by  resi- 
dence here  to  command  the  last  imperial  army, 
and  the  history  of  the  Tuileries  as  a  royal  resi- 
dence ends  with  the  flight  of  the  beautiful  Em- 
press Eugenie,  after  the  battle  of  Sedan. 

Here  in  this  palace  the  King  and  Queen  were 
held  in  polite  constraint  and  obliged  to  ask  the 

43 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

authorities  for  permission  to  visit  their  palace  of 
St.  Cloud  in  warm  weather.  Marie  Antoinette 
busied  herself  watching-  the  education  of  her 
children,  Madam  Royal  ten  years  of  age,  and  the 
Dauphin  who  was  four  3'^ears  of  age.  The  Dau- 
phin was  a  charming  boy,  gifted  with  astonish- 
ing intelligence  which  developed  year  by  year. 
The  Queen  dearl}'  loved  her  children  and  was 
with  them  a  great  portion  of  the  day.  The  little 
Dauphin  was  quite  a  philosopher.  One  day  he 
asked  his  governess:  "If  God  sends  the  rain  to 
make  the  corn  grow,  why  does  he  let  it  fall  on 
the  pavement?"  One  of  the  King's  body  guard, 
M.  Beaurepaire  came  to  the  Tuilerie  to  pay  his 
respects  to  the  Royal  family.  He  was  one  of 
"those  who  in  the  midnight  attempt  to  murder  the 
Queen  at  Versailles,  had  called  out,  "Save  the 
Queen,"  and  was  horribly  wounded.  The  Dau- 
phin wished  to  see  him  in  his  rooms.  He  threw 
himself  into  the  arms  of  the  brave  guard  exclaim- 
ing": "How  grateful  I  am  to  you  for  having  saved 
mamma."  Then  going  to  his  governess  the  little 
four  year  old  boy  said:  "Madam,  I  beg  of  you  to 
give  him  some  dinner;  I  am  coming  down  soon, 
and  shall  see  him  for  a  longer  time." 

The  Queen's  walk  was  confined  to  the  gardens 
of  the  Tuileries  where  a  path  surrounded  by  trel- 
lis work,  had  been  made  as  a  private  walk  for  the 
Dauphin,  who  went  there  with  a  commandant  of 
the  National  Guard  and  four  soldiers.     The  little 

44 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

Prince  asked  his  governess  the  reason  of  this 
change  and  then  remarked:  "I  see  quite  well  that 
there  are  wicked  people  who  trouble  papa,  and  I 
regret  our  good  body  guard  whom  I  loved  much 
better  than  these  guards,  for  whom  I  do  not  care 
in  the  least. "  His  tutor  was  the  Abbe  Davauz.  a 
man  of  merit,  who  had  the  skill  to  make  the  study 
time  of  his  youthful  student,  one  of  pleasure,  and 
thus  he  learned  very  quickly.  One  day  a  visitor 
had  jokingly  said  to  the  Dauphin  on  being  re- 
proved: "I  will  bet  that  Madam  de  Tourzel  is 
wrong,  and  the  Dauphin  is  right."  "Monsieur" 
he  replied  with  a  laugh,  "you  are  a  flatterer,  for 
I  got  in  a  rage  this  morning." 

One  day  he  thought  to  test  the  severit}^  of  his 
governess,  and  said  to  her:  "If  you  do  not  do  as 
I  wish,  I  shall  cry;  the  people  will  hear  me  on  the 
terrace;  then  what  will  they  say?"  "That  you 
are  a  naughty  boy."  "But  if  my  crying  makes 
me  ill?"  "I  shall  put  you  to  bed."  Then  the 
Dauphin  began  to  cry,  stamp  his  feet  and  make  a 
great  noise.  His  governess  did  not  say  a  word, 
but  had  his  bed  made  ready  and  ordered  some 
broth  for  his  supper.  These  preparations  were 
sufficient  to  satisfy  him,  and  he  became  quiet, 
and  looking  straight  at  his  governess  said:  "I 
only  wanted  to  see  what  I  could  do  with  you.  I 
see  now  I  must  obey  you.  Forgive  me,  it  shall 
never  happen  again. "  The  next  day  he  said  to 
the  Queen:     "Do  you  know  who  you  have  given 

45 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

me  as  a  g-overness?  It  is  Madam  Severe.*'  At 
Versailles,  when  the  Flanders  regiment  called  on 
Madam  de  Tourzel,  the  visit  was  mentioned  be- 
fore the  Dauphin  who  had  a  g^reat  desire  to  see 
them.  The  Queen  told  him,  "he  would  not  know 
what  to  say  to  these  j>:entlemen."'  "Do  not  trouble 
yourself,  mamma,  I  shall  not  be  embarrassed." 
Scarcely  had  the  officers  entered  the  room,  than 
the  young"  Prince  said  to  them:  "I  am  delighted 
to  see  you,  gentlemen;  but  am  ver}^  sorry  that  I 
am  too  small  to  see  all  of  you."  Then  seeing  a 
very  tall  officer,  he  said  to  him,  "Take  me  up  in 
your  arms,  sir,  so  that  I  can  see  all  these  gentle- 
men."  Then  he  said  with  charming  gaiety;  "I  am 
very  glad,  gentlemen,  to  be  in  your  midst."  The 
officers  were  charmed  to  hear  a  four  year  old  child 
so  bright  and  amiable.  Though  he  learned  every- 
thing with  the  greatest  ease,  he  found  it  tiresome 
to  learn  to  read.  When  the  Queen  told  him  it 
was  disgraceful  not  to  read  at  four  years,  he  re- 
plied: "Very  well  mamma,  I  will  learn  as  a  New 
Years  gift  to  you."  In  November  he  said  to  the 
Abbe  Davauz:  "I  must  know  how  much  time  I 
have  between  this  and  New  Years  day,  because  I 
have  promised  mamma  to  be  able  to  read  by  then. " 
On  hearing  he  had  only  a  month,  he  looked  at  his 
tutor  and  said:  "Please  my  good  Abbe,  give  me 
two  lessons  a  day,  and  I  will  give  the  best  atten- 
tion."  He  kept  his  word  and  went  to  the  Queen 
with  a  book  in  his  hand,  and  throwing  his  arms 

46 


PRIXCE      OR      CREOLE 

around  her  neck,  the  dear  child  said:  "Here  is 
3'our  New  Years  gift;  I  have  kept  m}-  promise, 
and  I  know  how  to  read  now. " 

Mr.  Arthur  Young-  an  English  traveler  mentions 
in  his  visit  to  Paris  in  these  Revolutionary  days, 
that  when  walking  in  the  gardens  of  the  palace, 
the  King  was  attended  by  six  soldiers;  the  Queen 
was  similarly  attended;  and  for  the  Dauphin  there 
was  a  little  garden  railed  off,  in  which  he  amused 
himself.  There  was  a  small  room  built  in  it,  to 
retire  into  in  case  of  rain.  Here  he  was  at  work 
with  his  little  hoe  and  rake.  He  described  him 
as  a  pretty  good  natured  looking  boy,  with  an 
agreeable  countenance.  Wherever  he  goes,  all 
hals  are  taken  off  to  him.  In  the  privacy  of  her 
palace  the  Queen  occupied  herself  in  the  educa- 
tion of  her  children.  A  few  days  after  their  arri- 
val at  the  Tuileries,  the  little  Prince  went  up  to 
his  father,  and  looked  at  him  sorrowfully.  The 
King  asked  him  what  he  wanted.  The  Dauphin 
replied,  that  he  had  something  very  serious  to 
say  to  him.  Pressed  by  the  King  to  explain  him- 
self, he  requested  to  know  why  the  people  who 
always  loved  him  so  much,  were  all  at  once  angry 
with  him.  What  had  he  done  to  irritate  them  so 
much.  His  father  took  him  upon  his  knee  and 
spoke  to  him  in  a  kind  manner:  "I  wished  my 
child,  to  render  the  people  still  happier  than  they 
were.  But  I  wanted  money  to  pay  for  wars,  and 
asked  mj^  people  for  it  as  all  other  Kings  had 

47 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

done.  The  Magistrates  of  the  parliament  re- 
fused, as  only  the  people  had  a  right  to  consent 
to  raising  money.  Then  I  called  together  the  prin- 
cipal inhabitants  of  the  towns,  named  the  States 
General.  When  assembled  they  required  many 
ancient  privileges  to  be  given  up.  Some  of  them 
I  held  to,  out  of  respect  for  myself,  and  with 
justice  to  you,  who  will  come  after  me.  Wicked 
men  have  occasioned  the  people  to  rise  and  com- 
mit the  excesses  of  the  last  few  days.  The  peo- 
ple must  not  be  blamed  for  them." 

The  Queen  fearful  lest  the  youthful  prince  might 
say  things  to  compromise  them,  explained  to  him 
that  he  must  use  great  judgment  to  say  proper 
and  kind  words  to  all  those  whom  he  met.  The 
child  took  great  pains  to  please.  When  he  had 
an  opportunity  to  reply  to  the  mayor  or  members 
of  the  commons,  he  ran  and  whispered  to  his 
mother,  "was  that  right?" 

The  Dauphin  requested  M.  Bailly  to  show  him 
the  shield  of  Scipio,  w^hich  was  in  the  royal 
library.  He  was  asked  which  he  pi^eferred, 
Scipio  or  Hannibal?  He  replied,  that  he  pre- 
ferred him  who  had  defended  his  own  country. 
He  gave  frequent  proof  of  ready  wit.  The  words 
"dis  done"  meaning  "tell  thou  then"  are  pro- 
nounced in  French  with  the  sound  of  Didon  (Dido) 
the  name  of  the  Queen  of  Carthage,  which  he  had 
remembered  in  overhearing  the  lessons  of  his 
sister.  Madam  Royal.     The  Queen  was  hearing 

48 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

the  princess  repeat  her  ancient  history,  and  she 
could  not  for  the  moment  recollect  the  name  of 
the  Carthag-e  Queen.  The  Dauphin  quickly  said 
to  her:  "But  dis  done,  the  name  of  the  queen  to 
mamma;  dis  done  what  her  name  was." 

On  JuljT-  14,  1790,  there  was  held  in  Paris  a  cel- 
ebration of  the  Federation  of  France,  and  by  invi- 
tation of  the  City  of  Paris,  deputations  attended 
from  all  parts  of  the  King-dom.  They  were  in  a 
loyal  frame  of  mind  toward  the  King.  On  the 
eve  of  the  celebration  the  King  held  a  review  of 
the  Federates  who  marched  past  the  King  stand- 
ing at  the  foot  of  the  grand  stair  case  of  the 
Tuileries.  The  Queen  presented  her  children  to 
them  and  gracefully/  said  a  few  words,  exciting- 
the  federates  to  great  enthusiasm.  The  deputa- 
tions remained  several  days,  and  many  of  them 
visited  the  mausion  each  day.  At  three  o'clock 
the  Dauphin  would  step  onto  a  little  balcony  and 
review  the  people,  say  a  few  words  to  each  as  he 
passed,  and  then  go  back  to  his  play.  As  he 
amused  himself  one  day  pulling  leaves  from  a 
lilac  bush  on  the  balcony,  a  federate  requested 
them  as  keepsakes  of  something  his  little  hand  had 
held.  This  being  seen  by  others,  they  soon  des- 
poiled the  bush,  mid  shouts  of  "Long-  live  the 
King,  the  Queen,  and  Mgr.  the  Dauphin."  His 
gaiety,  beauty  and  grace  and  sprighth^  engaging 
manner  won  every  heart.  Every  day  at  five 
o'clock  he  went  to  his  little  garden.     The  feder- 

49 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

ates  urgently  requested  to  enter  it.  They  were 
permitted  to  do  so  in  limited  numbers,  and  in  re- 
la3'^s  while  his  walk  lasted.  He  spoke  to  them  in 
such  winning  ways  that  they  left  enchanted. 
Each  deputation  desired  the  King  to  visit  their 
province.  "Come"  said  those  from  Dauphine,  to 
the  young  Prince,  "come  to  your  province  of 
Dauphine;  your  name  gives  you  possession  of  us, 
and  we  shall  know  well  how  to  defend  you  against 
your  enemies."  "Do  not  forget  Monseigneur" 
said  the  Normans,  "that  you  have  born  the  name 
of  our  province,  and  that  the  Normans  have  al- 
ways been  faithful  to  their  King." 

The  Dauphin  Dragon  regiment  in  passing 
through  Paris,  sent  word  b}''  its  Colonel  to  Madam 
Tourzel,  to  express  their  regret  to  the  Prince  that 
they  could  not  meet  the  Dauphin  at  that  time. 
"How  nice  it  is  to  have  a  regiment  at  my  age,  and 
how  I  should  like  to  see  it,"  he  said.  "What 
answer  shall  I  give  from  you  Monseigneur?" 
"That  is  an  awkward  question;  answer  for  me 
please."  "I  shall  sa}^  that  Mgr.  the  Daupjiin,  not 
knowing  at  his  age  (five  years)  what  to  say,  will 
reply  when  he  is  older." 

"How  wicked  you  are,"  said  the  Prince,  "and 
what  will  my  regiment  say  of  me?"  He  flew  into 
a  violent  rage,  stamping  his  feet  and  clapping  his 
hands;  and  when  he  saw  that  they  were  onl}'' 
laughing  at  him,  he  said  looking  very  sober:  "I 
will  reply  mj'self  as  you  will  not  help  me.     Tell 

50 


The  Mob  Befork  ihk  Palack  uk  Versailles 

Crying  "to  Paris"— ^[arie  Antoinette  facing  the  mob  with  her  children, 
Lafayette  kisses  her  hand. 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 


Colonel  Choiseul,  that  I  should  like  very  much  to 
see  my  regiment,  and  to  put  myself  at  its  head, 
and  that  I  beg-  him  to  say  so  for  me;  and  at  the 
same  time  thank  him  with  all  my  heart  for  what 
he  has  said  on  behalf  of  himself  and  the  regi- 
ment." The  governess  kissed  him,  and  he 
thanked  her  when  he  saw  she  approved  of  his  reply. 

A  rumor  was  started  in  the  spring  that  the 
Daujohin  was  to  be  sent  away  secretly.  Under 
this  pretext,  the  mob  sw^armed  the  streets  and 
sought  to  enter  the  castle  by  force;  but  the  gates 
were  closed  and  defended  by  the  guard.  Four 
days  after  this,  a  stranger  with  a  small  hunting 
knife  was  found  in  a  room  next  to  that  of  the 
Dauphin. 

It  was  on  the  4th  of  August,  in  1789,  that  the 
most  extraordinary  scene  occurred  in  the  assem- 
bly. Moved  by  the  orations  of  some  of  the 
nobles,  the  members  of  all  the  orders  were  affect- 
ed with  a  delirious  impulse  to  relinquish  their 
individual  privileges.  All  those  who  by  their 
perverse  selfishness  brought  on  the  revolution, 
now  vied  with  each  other  in  liberality.  The 
nobles  gave  up  their  ancient  rights;  the  clergy 
gave  up  tithes  or  tenths;  and  the  tiers  etat 
surrendered  the  privileges  of  towns.  One  night 
had  seen  the  overthrow  of  abuses  a  thousand 
years  old.  And  the  next  year  the  assembly  abol- 
ished all  titles,  and  the  order  of  nobility,  so  that 
all  must  be  addressed  as  "citizen." 

51 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

Against  the  insurrectionary  movements  and 
mob  rule,  the  higher  classes  made  no  head. 
Yielding  to  panic  they  fled  the  country  to  the 
number  of  many  thousands,  instead  of  remaining 
to  use  their  influence  for  peace.  The  finances  con- 
tinued in  a  deplorable  state,  and  the  assembly  to 
provide  funds  took  all  the  church  property,  val- 
ued at  four  hundred  million  dollars,  and  offered 
it  for  sale.  Loud,  but  vain  was  the  remonstran- 
ces of  the  clergy.  But  stripped  of  its  patrimony, 
the  church  was  doomed  to  suffer  a  greater  indig- 
nity. The  clergy  of  every  degree  were  by  law 
denied  the  spiritual  dependence  on  the  Pope  and 
reduced  to  civil  servants  of  the  State.  They  must 
swear  an  oath  to  this  by  the  4th  of  January,  1791, 
on  pain  of  dismissal.  Very  few  took  the  oath. 
It  was  not  popular  among  the  people.  The  King 
at  first  refused  his  sanction  to  the  law,  but  was 
finally  compelled  to  do  so.  The  excitement  be- 
came intense  as  Holy  Week,  in  1791,  approached, 
as  the  mob  would  not  permit  worship.  The  King 
would  have  only  a  non-juring  jDriest,  that  is  one 
who  would  not  take  the  oath.  Because  of  this 
the  excitement  spread  to  the  palace.  Crowds 
feurrounded  it,  and  being  informed  the  King  would 
spend  Holy  Week  at  St.  Cloud,  where  there  was  a 
non-juring  priest,  the  mob  opposed  the  journey, 
and  indulged  in  most  atrocious  remarks.  The 
National  Guard  threatened  to  quit  the  service  of 
the  King.     The  King  had  arranged  to  start  for 

52 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

the  Queen's  castle  of  St.  Cloud  the  Monday  before 
Easter.  The  rabble  assembled  and  indulged  in 
sinister  remarks  about  the  journey  and  to  oppose 
it.  The  King-  and  Queen  got  into  their  carriage 
with  the  Dauphin  and  Madam  Royal,  and  the 
King's  sister  Elizabeth.  The  guards  revolted, 
and  placing  themselves  before  the  carriage,  de- 
clared they  would  not  permit  the  King  to  depart. 
The  Mayor  of  Paris  and  Lafayette  both  tried  to 
persuade  the  guard  their  action  was  wrong.  The 
King  said  to  them:  "It  is  astonishing  if  after 
giving  liberty  to  the  nation,  I  should  not  myself 
be  free."  The  throng  of  people  in  the  mob  up- 
held the  guards  who  grossly  insulted  those  who 
surrounded  the  carriage,  and  compelled  them  to 
stand  aside.  They  used  such  violence  to  M.  de 
Duras,  that  the  King  ordered  two  loyal  grena- 
diers to  extricate  him;  and  the  Dauphin  who  was 
not  alarmed  until  now,  began  to  cry  and  scream 
at  the  top  of  his  voice:  "Save  him,  save  him."' 
Upon  being  convinced  their  departure  would  be 
attended  with  danger,  the}'  returned  into  the  pal- 
ace. The  King  was  obliged  to  dismiss  his  non- 
juring  priests,  except  one,  to  whom  he  confessed 
and  who  said  mass  in  secret.  The  household  was 
very  gloomy.  The  poor  little  Dauphin  was  as  sor- 
rowful as  the  rest.  Alone  with  the  Abbe  his  tutor 
and  Madam  his  governess,  he  said  with  a  sigh: 
"How  wicked  all  those  people  are,  to  give  papa 
so  much  trouble,  when  he  is  so  good.     I  only  say 

53 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

so  to  you,  my  dear  Madam,  because  I  know  I 
ought  to  keep  quiet,"  and  putting  his  little  arms 
around  her,  kissed  her  tenderly;  then  throwing 
himself  on  a  sofa  asked  for  the  history  of  Ber- 
quin.  The  first  anecdote  he  saw  as  he  opened  the 
book,  was  that  of  the  little  prisoner.  Running 
to  the  Abbe  with  tears  in  his  e3'^es  he  exclaimed: 
"Look  my  dear  Abbe,  at  the  book  that  has 
chanced  to  fall  into  my  hands  to-day."  He  was 
the  most  charming  child,  lovable  to  all;  and  never 
failed  to  say  the  kindest  and  most  affectionate 
words  to  those  about  him. 

Word  was  sent  to  the  Queen  that  one  Palloi, 
requested  permission  to  present  the  Dauphin  with 
a  set  of  dominos  made  of  the  stone  and  marble  of 
the  Bastille.  As  they  dare  not  refuse,  permis- 
sion was  granted.  The  speech  of  the  Dauphin 
was  committed  to  memory  to  avoid  his  saying 
something  which  might  be  used  against  them. 
He  said:  "I  am  obliged  to  you,  sir,  for  j^our  idea 
that  a  set  of  dominos  might  amuse  me,  and  I 
thank  you  sincerely  for  those  you  have  giv,en  me." 
He  was  furious  at  receiving  such  a  present,  and 
still  more  so,  when  the  giver  told  him  the}'^  would 
be  a  reminder  of  his  father  in  renouncing  despot- 
ism. The  Dauphin's  face  was  ver}?^  red.  As  soon 
as  it  was  over,  he  requested  to  be  taken  indoors, 
and  at  once  sent  away  the  dominos,  asking  that 
they  never  be  mentioned  again. 

The  Prince  took  a  lively   interest   in  stirring 

54 


PRIXCE      OR      CR-EOLE 


amusements,  and  favored  playing  soldier,  by  fir- 
ing- off  a  little  cannon  in  his  garden,  while  with 
sword  in  hand,  he  gave  the  command  to  fire. 
Another  amusement  which  pleased  him,  was  to 
dress  in  the  customs  of  a  French  knight  of  olden 
times,  by  putting  on  a  miniature  armour  made  for 
him.  "With  a  helmet  on  his  head,  a  cuirass  on  his 
body,  and  a  lance  in  his  hand,  he  marched  about 
in  great  glee.  This  amusement  was  only  allowed 
in  his  own  room,  for  fear  of  remark;  but  after 
begging  the  Queen  to  permit  him  to  appear  in 
her  rooms  in  this  gallant  dress,  she  consented  if 
he  would  name  the  knight  he  would  represent  be- 
fore her.  "It  will  be,'"  he  said,  "The  Chevalier 
Bayard,  without  fear  and  without  reproach." 

The  young  Prince  was  fond  of  historical  anec- 
dotes. "I  like  Scipio  much  the  best,"  he  said  to 
the  Abbe  Berthelemy  of  the  Academy  of  Science, 
"he  is  my  hero."  "Would  you  like  to  see  his 
shield?"  "I  should  be  delighted."  The  shield 
was  brought  to  him,  and  after  examining  it  at- 
tentively and  turning  it  over  and  over,  darted 
away  to  bring  his  sword,  which  he  rubbed  on  the 
shield.  "What  are  you  doing,  Monsigneur?" 
asked  the  Abbe.  "I  am  rubbing  my  sword  on  the 
shield  of  a  great  man. "  Having  heard  the  story 
of  the  regiment  of  grenadiers  at  Strosburg,  who 
for  inspiration  to  brave  deeds,  had  laid  their 
swords  on  the  tomb  of  Marshall  Saxe,  the  young 
Prince  took  the  first  occasion  to  imitate  them. 


55 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

Playing  in  a  game  which  required  everyone  to 
tell  anecdotes,  he  astonished  his  teachers  by  say- 
ing": "I  have  a  funny  one.  At  the  door  of  the 
Assembly  there  was  a  porter  who  sold  the  de- 
crees as  soon  as  printed.  To  shorten  his  cry  he 
called  out,  "for  two  sous,  for  two  sous,  the  Nation- 
al Assembly. "  A  wag  who  was  passing  said  to 
him,  "My  friend,  you  tell  us  what  they  are  worth, 
but  not  what  they  cost  us?"  "Now  confess," 
said  the  Prince,  "that  was  funny."  He  had  been 
forbidden  to  mention  the  assembly,  and  Madam 
looking  severe,  asked  who  had  told  him  the  tale 
Smiling  he  replied,  "the  Abbe,  who  taught  us  the 
game,  said  all  were  obliged  to  relate  an  anecdote, 
but  it  is  not  part  of  the  game  to  tell  where  it 
came  from." 


•^|? 


56 


VI 


MIDNIGHT   FLIGHT   TO    VAREXXES 

THE  terror  of  their  position,  and  the  constant 
menace  to  their  lives,  by  the  unguarded  ora- 
tor}' of  the  Assembly,  the  inflamatory  press, 
the  plots  to  assassinate  and  desig'ns  to  poison, 
finally  determined  the  King-  on  flight  to  Mont- 
medy,  on  the  eastern  border,  where  there  were  a 
number  of  loj^al  regiments  and  he  could  feel  that 
their  lives  wouJd  be  in  safer  care  than  surrounded 
by  the  Parisians.  The  details  of  the  journey  hav. 
ing  been  completed,  at  midnight  on  the  21st  of 
June,  1790,  the  Queen  went  to  the  Dauphin  and 
woke  the  young  Prince  from  a  sound  sleep,  ex- 
plaining to  him  that  the\'  were  going  to  a  fort- 
ress, where  he  would  command  his  regiment.  At 
this  he  jumped  out  of  bed  sa3'ing :  "Quick,  quick, 
make  haste,  give  me  my  sword  and  boots,  and 
let  us  be  off."  The  idea  of  being  like  Henry  of 
Navarre,  who  was  his  model  roused  him  to  such 
an  extent,  that  he  did  not  close  his  eyes  during 
the  journey.  The  Dauphin  was  disguised  as  a 
little  girl.  Madam  de  Tourzel  took  the  Dauphin 
and  his  sister,  Madam  Royal,  out  of  the  palace 
by  the  gloom  of  unused  doorwa5's,  and  got  into  a 
common  carriage  which  was  driven  by  Count  Far- 
sen,  in  disguise  of  a  coachman.     The  numerous 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

people  in  and  about  the  palace  and  the  g:uards 
made  the  escape  of  the  Royal  family  quite  diffi- 
cult, and  required  great  strategy.  The  usual 
crowd  of  people  were  uiwn  the  dimly  lighted 
streets.  While  waiting  for  the  King  to  arrive, 
the  tiacre  was  driven  along  the  quays  and  streets 
returning  by  Rue  Saint  Honore  to  wait  in  the  dark. 
Seeing  on  the  side  of  the  road,  M.  Lafayette, 
Madam  Tourzel  hid  the  Dauphin  nnder  her  petti- 
coats. He  said  it  was  just  like  a  play  as  they 
were  dressed  for  it.  M.  Bailly,  the  mayor,  fol- 
lowed at  a  little  distance.  Neither  suspected  the 
occupants  of  the  carriage.  They  went  to  visit 
the  King,  and  he  not  wishing  to  arouse  their  sus- 
picion, was  delayed  by  their  long  stay.  In  about 
three  quarters  of  an  hour.  Madam  Elizabeth 
reached  the  carriage.  After  midnight  the  King 
came  to  join  the  fugitives  wearing  a  wig  for  dis- 
guise. The  King  soon  became  uneasy  that  the 
Queen  did  not  arrive.  There  was  much  risk  to 
them,  waiting  in  the  street  in  the  heart  of  Paris. 
The  Queen  escorted  by  a  guard  who  did  n^ot  know 
the  streets  about  the  palace,  became  confused 
and  they  wandered  about  for  some  time  in  the 
dark  and  poorly  lighted  streets,  before  finding  the 
carriage  in  which  the  other  fugitives  waited  so 
anxiously.  The  King  was  delighted  on  seeing 
the  Queen.  As  soon  as  she  was  in  the  carriage, 
he  took  her  in  his  arms,  kissed  her,  and  said  over 
and  over  again ;  "How  glad  I  am  to  see  you  here. ' ' 

58 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

Farsen  now  drove  at  full  speed  to  Bondy,  near 
Paris.  At  the  barrier  there  was  a  marriage  feast 
going  on,  with  plenty  of  people  and  lights  at  the 
gate,  but  none  in  the  carriage  were  recognized, 
and  they  passed  without  difficulty.  The  roads 
were  bad  and  in  the  dark  the  horses  fell  twice, 
causing  an  hour's  delay  by  the  breaking  of  the 
harness.  The  fugitives  ate  in  the  coach  and 
caused  no  delay.  The  children  got  out  several 
times  to  walk  up  hill  for  fresh  air.  Near  Clinchy 
they  met  their  large  lumbering  berlin,  which  had 
been  sent  on  ahead.  At  Laye,  they  bid  an  affec- 
tionate good  bye  to  Farsen,  and  took  post  horses. 
All  the  barriers  being  passed,  the  party  was  in 
high  spirits.  The  King  said,  "Here  I  am  outside 
Paris  where  I  have  experienced  so  much  bitter- 
ness. When  I  am  once  seated  in  the  saddle  I 
shall  be  very  different."  The  farther  they  went, 
the  more  hopeful  they  became.  "When  we  have 
passed  Chalons,  we  shall  have  nothing  more  to 
fear,"  said  the  King.  "At  point  de  Sommevel 
we  shall  find  the  first  detachment  of  troops,  and 
we  shall  be  safe." 

They  passed  Chalons  and  easy  in  their  minds, 
did  not  suspect  their  good  fortune  was  nearly  at 
an  end.  By  unfortunate  delays  the  troops  intend- 
ed to  meet  them,  had  changed  their  positions,  and 
the  King  was  lost.  The}'^  passed  several  towns 
in  expectation  but  no  troops  came.  At  Sainte 
Menchould,    son   of  the    postmaster,    a    furious 

69 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

patriot  happened  to  be  at  the  door,  and  led  by 
curiosity  to  examine  the  berlin,  thought  he  recog-- 
nized  the  King-  from  his  face  on  the  paper  money. 
He  mounted  on  horseback,  followed  the  King  to 
Clermont,  and  hearing  that  Varennes  was  the  next 
stopping  place,  rode  on  in  advance  and  warned 
the  authorities.  At  Clermont  the  King's  troops 
came  up,  but  refused  to  march  or  obey  their  com- 
mander M.  de  Damas,  who  dare  not  tell  them  it 
was  the  King's  carriage.  On  nearing  Varennes, 
they  saw  a  man  who  appeared  to  be  hiding  him- 
self. Their  anxiety  increased;  their  situation  be- 
came frightful.  They  thought  they  were  be- 
trayed, and  pursued  their  w^ay  in  distress  and 
grief,  which  was  increased  on  reaching  Varennes, 
where  knowing  no  post  horses  were  to  be  had, 
they  had  sent  on  a  relay  for  their  use,  but  none 
appeared.  They  knocked  at  a  door  of  the  vil- 
lage and  asked  if  anything  was  known  of  a  relay. 
No  information  could  be  had,  and  they  attempted 
to  hire  the  postillions  to  do  a  second  stage,  which 
they  refused,  sa3ing  their  horses  were  tpo  tired. 
They  were  then  to  be  taken  to  the  last  inn  to 
start  when  the  horses  were  rested.  The  alarm 
taken  ahead  had  roused  the  town  and  National 
Guard.  A  wagon  load  of  furniture  was  up  set 
across  the  bridge,  closing  the  wa3^  It  was  half 
past  eleven  o'clock  at  night.  Souce,  the  Ma3'or, 
caused  the  carriage  with  the  attendants  which 
was  ahead,  to  be  stopped  at  his  house  and  its  oc- 

60 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

cupants  compelled  to  alight,  while  their  pass- 
ports were  examined.  Word  came  to  the  King- of 
this,  but  they  could  not  retreat  then.  A  moment 
afterward  two  men  stopped  the  King's  carriage. 
Their  passports  were  asked  for,  and  found  to  be 
correct,  and  though  they  urged  they  were  in  a 
hurry,  yet  excuses  were  made  for  delay,  to  arouse 
the  National  Guard  and  citizens.  The  King  re- 
fused for  a  long  time  to  leave  the  carriage,  but 
finally  on  promise  of  being  allowed  to  proceed  if 
all  was  right,  did  alight  and  all  entered  the 
Mayor's  house.  The  children  lay  down  on  a  bed 
and  were  soon  fast  asleep.  The  people  were 
not  quite  sure  if  the  stranger  was  really  the 
King;  but  one  Mangin  who  knew  His  Majesty 
went  into  the  room  to  see  and  recognized  him, 
rushed  out  to  the  town  and  surrounding  country, 
and  within  an  hour  had  collected  four  thousand 
of  the  National  Guard.  The  King  seeing  that 
further  denial  was  useless,  confessed  that  he  was 
the  King;  that  he  left  Paris  to  avoid  daily  insults; 
that  he  had  no  intention  of  leaving  the  Kingdom, 
but  wished  to  go  to  Montmedy  to  be  in  better 
position  to  be  of  use  to  his  people.  Both  the 
King  and  Queen  tried  to  touch  their  hearts,  "but 
theirs  were  hearts  of  brass,  which  fear  alone  could 
move."  The  streets  were  filled  with  the  rabble, 
and  every  house  was  lighted.  Some  officers  came 
and  offered  to  cut  their  way  through  and  save  the 
Royal  family,  but  the  King  would  have  no  blood- 

61 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

shed.  At  four  o'clock  in  the  morning,  there  came 
flying  into  the  excited  town,  on  foaming  horses, 
two  officers  with  orders  from  the  assembly  to 
protect  and  return  the  Royal  family.  The  Queen 
snatched  the  papers  and  prevented  by  the  King 
from  tearing  them,  threw  them  on  the  ground. 
The  King  said  as  the  children  needed  rest,  he 
should  remain  there  sometime.  He  had  some 
hope  that  his  faithful  soldiers  would  come;  but 
they  came  after  the  departure. 

The  King  was  incessantly  urged  to  depart.  His 
horses  were  put  to  the  berlin.  The  clamor  in- 
creased. In  vain  the  Queen  pointed  to  her  sleep- 
ing children  and  pointed  out  the  need  of  rest. 
The  mob  invaded  their  rooms,  loudly  demanding 
that  they  should  depart.  After  waiting  at  Varen- 
nes  eight  awful  hours,  with  no  news  of  the  troops, 
the  King  seeing  no  way  of  escaping  the  mob, 
which  was  increasing,  concluded  to  return.  The 
carriage  was  driven  at  a  high  speed  to  escape  the 
arrival  of  the  soldiers  and  soon  distanced  the 
howling  mob.  The  troops  reached  tl^e  high 
ground  overlooking  the  town  just  in  time  to  see 
the  unhappy  King  departing  and  because  of  the 
temper  of  the  people,  the  officer  fearing  for  the 
safety  of  the  King  if  he  attempted  to  rescue  them 
did  not  follow.  The  highways  were  thronged 
with  excited  people  who  greeted  them  with  insults 
as  they  passed.  Several  who  attempted  to  give 
them  words  of  cheer  were  murdered.     The  day 

62 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

was  hot,  and  the  King-  and  Queen  exhausted  with 
fatig-ue,  not  having-  slept  for  two  nights.  At 
Chalons  the  people  were  loyal.  They  slept  there, 
in  the  same  house  in  which  the  Queen  rested, 
when  as  a  young-  girl  she  first  came  into  France. 
Here  the  children  brought  flowers.  Frightful 
mobs  followed  the  carriage  at  every  town.  They 
made  such  a  noise  all  night  long  at  Dormans 
that  it  was  impossible  to  sleep.  The  little  Dau- 
phin thought  he  was  in  a  forest  with  wolves, 
and  that  the  Queen  was  in  danger,  he  awoke 
crying  and  sobbing.  He  could  only  be  quieted 
by  being  taken  to  her  Majesty;  when  he  found 
she  was  safe  he  allowed  himself  to  be  put  to  bed 
again.  It  was  very  annoying  to  the  King  and 
Queen  to  be  compelled  to  have  two  of  the  deputies 
ride  in  their  carriage.  The  heat  was  excessive. 
Everybody  in  the  carriage  was  covered  with  per- 
spiration and  dust.  At  places  the  dust  raised  by 
the  people  who  surrounded  the  carriage  on  horse- 
back and  on  foot  was  as  thick  as  a  fog,  and  the 
air  was  cut  off,  so  that  the  people  inside  were 
nearly  suffocated.  On  entering  Paris  they  passed 
through  dense  crowds  on  their  way  to  the  Tuil- 
eries.  Their  faithful  servants  were  seized  and 
sent  to  prison.  On  entering  the  palace  one  of  the 
National  Guard  took  hold  of  the  Dauphin  to  carry 
him  to  his  room;  but  as  he  began  to  cry  he  was 
given  over  to  others  who  took  him  to  the  King's 
apartments. 

63 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

The  Assembly  took  a-\vay  the  executive  author- 
ity of  the  King-,  and  made  him,  Marie  Antoinette, 
the  Dauphin  and  Madame  Ro^^al,  prisoners  in 
their  castle.  All  the  rooms  and  even  the  chimney 
were  carefully  examined  to  see  if  any  secret 
means  of  escape  existed.  All  the  doors  leading- 
out  of  the  room  occupied  by  the  Dauphin  were 
doubly  locked,  and  the  kej^s  taken  away.  A 
sentry  was  placed  on  each  stair  case  inside  the 
castle;  sentr}'^  at  the  door  of  the  King  and  Queen 
were  commanded  to  keep  them  always  in  sight 
and  the  Queen  had  no  privacy,  even  when  she 
slept.  When  Madam  Campan  returned  to  the 
Queen,  she  was  astonished  to  observe  the  effect 
grief  had  produced  upon  her  hair.  "It  became 
in  one  single  night,  as  white  as  that  of  a  woman 
of  seventy. "'  Marie  Antoinette  exhibited  to  her  a 
ring  mounted,  to  send  to  Princess  Lamballe, 
containing  a  lock  of  her  hair,  with  the  inscription, 
"bleached  by  sorrow."  Shortly  after  receiving 
this  ring  the  Princess  Lamballe,  returned  to  the 
palace,  the  Dauphin  said  to  her,  "You  will  not 
go  away  again,  I  hope  Princess?  Oh,  mamma 
has  cried  so  since  you  left  us,"  of  which  she 
writes:  "I  had  wept  enough  before,  but  this  dear 
little  angel  brought  tears  into  the  e5"es  of  us  all. " 

By  the  more  thoughtful  people,  the  bringing 
back  of  the  King  was  deemed  a  political  blunder. 
The  leaders  of  the  revolutionary  party  seized 
upon  the  occurrence  as  favorable  to  promote  their 

64 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

scheme  of  a  republic.  Mobs  were  roused  to  make 
a  grand  insurrectionary  movement  beginning-  by 
a  great  meeting  in  the  Champ  de  Mars.  The 
attempt  was  frustrated  by  Lafa3^ette  at  the  head 
of  the  National  Guard,  who  by  a  well  directed 
fire,  dispersed  the  concourse  of  anarchists.  If 
the  Assembly  had  at  the  same  time  ordered  the 
closing  of  the  seditious  clubs,  the  progress  of  the 
Revolution  might  have  been  stayed. 

The  King  sought  to  satisfy  the  people  by 
accepting  the  constitution  which  changed  his 
title  to  king  of  the  French,  authorized  him  to 
appoint  his  own  guards  and  retain  the  right  of 
veto.  At  the  ceremony  of  acceptance,  a  studied 
and  insulting  discourtesy  by  the  Assembly  so 
deeply  affected  the  King,  that  on  his  return  to 
the  palace  he  sank  into  a  chair  and  sobbed  aloud, 
saying  to  Marie  Antoinette:  "All  is  lost!  Ah 
Madam,  and  you  witnessed  such  humiliation!  You 
have  come  to  Prance  to  see."  He  did  not  finish 
the  sentence,  the  Queen  threw  herself  on  her 
knees  before  him,  clasped  him  in  her  arms, 
together  they  cried  over  the  disgrace  to  them- 
selves and  the  misery  of  France.  Over  in  another 
room  the  Dauphin  having  completed  his  lesson 
said  brightly  to  his  teacher:  "My  good  Abbe,  I 
am  so  hapi^y!  I  have  such  a  kind  papa;  such  a 
kind  mamma,  and  a  second  papa  and  mamma  in 
you  and  good  Madam  Tourzel," 

The  Assembly  having  concluded  its  labors  on 
65 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

the  30th  of  September,  1791,  had  decreed  the  Leg- 
islative Assembly,  that  none  of  the  old  members 
could  sit  in  the  new,  which  met  October  1st,  1791. 
The  Legislative  Assembly  was  therefore  com- 
posed of  individuals  generally  inferior  in  social 
standing.  They  were  poor,  noisy,  coarse  in  man- 
ner, presumptuous  and  ignorant.  They  were 
incompetent  to  deal  with  grave  legislation.  Their 
measures  were  characterized  by  violence,  such  as 
dooming  to  death  and  confiscation  of  estates  of 
absent  nobles  who  did  not  return  by  a  day  set, 
and  declared  all  non-juring,  that  is  non  swearing 
clergy  guilty  of  treason.  On  the  15th  of  June, 
1792  the  King  refused  his  sanction  to  the  decrees, 
ordaining  the  deportation  of  non-juring  priests, 
and  the  formation  of  a  camp  of  twenty  thousand 
men  under  the  walls  of  Paris.  Very  soon  a  sin- 
ister appearing  throng  of  twenty  thousand  men 
marched  up  to  the  Commune  to  announce  that  on 
the  twentieth  they  would  plant  the  tree  of  liberty 
at  the  door  of  the  Assembly  and  present  a  peti- 
tion to  the  King  respecting  his  veto  of  the  decree 
banishing  the  priests.  This  dreadful  rabble 
issued  from  the  foubourgs  and  marched  over  the 
gardens  of  the  Tuileries.  They  were  covered 
with  filthy  clothes;  were  unkempt,  and  "the  steam 
from  them  infected  the  air."  "Nothing  so  dis- 
gusting had  ever  before  been  seen  in  Paris."  On 
the  appointed  day  this  wretched  mob  in  still 
greater  numbers,  swept  over  the  Palace  grounds, 

66 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

armed  with  pikes,  hatchets  and  other  murderous 
implements,  decorated  with  the  tri-color,  shout- 
ing: ''The  nation  forever."  "Down  with  the 
veto."  The  King-  was  without  guards.  They 
rushed  up  the  grand  stairway  into  the  palace,  and 
began  battering  at  the  doors  of  the  King's  apart- 
ment which  he  ordered  to  be  opened.  The  nobles 
who  surrounded  the  King,  helped  him  to  the  re- 
cess of  the  window  and  baricaded  him  with 
benches.  Some  grenadiers  ranged  themselves  be- 
side the  King.  "The  torrent  poured  into  the 
room  furiously."  An  anarchist  was  to  stab  the 
King,  but  he  was  kept  away.  Some  said  to  the 
King:  "Sir,  fear  nothing."  "Put  your  hand 
upon  my  heart  and  you  will  perceive  whether  I 
am  afraid  or  not."  A  blow  aimed  at  him  was 
warded  off,  and  a  sword  thrust  was  parried  by 
his  defenders.  Madam  Elizabeth  ran  to  him,  and 
the  rabble  supposing  she  was  the  Queen  cried: 
"Death  to  the  Austrian."  "Ah,  let  them  think  I 
am  the  Queen,  that  she  may  have  time  to  escape, " 
she  said.  A  pike  was  thrust  to  pierce  her,  she 
gently  pushed  it  aside  with  the  remark:  "Take 
care  monsieur;  you  might  hurt  some  one,  and  I  am 
sure  that  you  would  be  sorry. "  A  red  cap  of  lib- 
erty was  held  up  to  the  King  at  the  end  of  a  pike, 
which  he  took  and  laid  on  his  head;  and  forget- 
ting it,  wore  it  during  the  three  anxious  hours 
which  the  mob  held  him  in  this  situation.  The 
Queen  was  rushing  to  the  King  when  the  tumult 

67 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

beg-an,  but  was  forced  by  her  women  to  the  Coun- 
cil room,  where  the  great  table  was  placed  across 
the  room  and  the  multitude  tramped  through.  The 
Queen  held  the  Dauphin  before  her  on  the  table. 
Madam  Royal  was  by  her  side.  A  tricolor  cock- 
ade had  been  fixed  on  the  Queen's  head  and  a  red 
cap  was  placed  on  the  Dauphin.  The  horde 
passed  in  files  before  the  table,  carrying  atro- 
cious standards,  such  as  a  gibbet,  to  which  was 
dangling  a  doll,  with  the  words,  "Marie  Antoi- 
nette a  la  Lantern;"'  and  another  was  a  board,  to 
which  was  attached  a  bullock's  heart  with  the 
words:  "Heart  of  Louis  XVI."  The  loud  voice 
of  Santerre  the  tall  monarch  of  the  foubourgs 
made  his  subjects  file  off  as  fast  as  possible.  The 
riot  lasted  for  three  hours,  and  after  they  had 
cleared  the  palace,  it  was  found  that  every  lock 
was  broken,  the  furniture  and  the  building  strewn 
with  filth.  The  King  and  Queen  had  no  hope 
now,  but  in  relief  by  foreign  help  and  that  of  the 
army  of  nobles  who  had  organized  on  the  frontier. 
The  King  expected  to  be  assassinated,  a,nd  was 
resigned  to  his  fate.  The  fear  of  another  sack  of 
the  Tuileries  caused  the  King  and  Queen  to 
destroy  all  their  letters  and  documents,  except  a 
few  which  they  entrusted  to  faithful  servants, 
but  which  were  subsequently  mostly  destroyed. 
Under  the  constant  terror  and  nervous  strain  the 
Queen  could  no  longer  sleep.  The  garden  was 
constantly  crowded  with  the  rabble.     The  Queen 

68 


PRIXCE      OR      CREOLE 

and  her  children  were  unable  to  go  out  into  the 
open  air,  and  even  when  the  Assembly  caused  the 
gardens  to  be  closed,  the  people  crowded  the  ter- 
race and  "sent  forth  dreadful  howls,  and  she  was 
twice  compelled  to  return  to  her  apartments." 
The  Sunday  before  the  last  days  of  the  monarchy, 
while  the  royal  famil}'  went  through  the  gallery 
to  chapel  half  the  soldiers  cried:  "Long  live  the 
King,"  and  the  other  half,  "No,  no  King,  down 
with  the  veto."  The  night  before  the  slaughter 
at  the  palace,  the  two  sentinels  at  the  King's 
door  had  a  bloody  fight  in  the  corridor,  each 
maintaining  opposite  views  of  love  and  distrust 
of  the  King. 


$ 


•SK» 


t)9 


VII 

MASSACRE   AT   THE   TUILERIES 

THE  colonists  of  San  Doming-o  having-  pre- 
sented to  the  Queen  a  very  gracious  address 
upon  the  occasion  of  the  negro  insurrection, 
the  Dauphin  asked  Her  Majest}^  to  give  him  the 
speech.  "What  do  you  want  to  do  with  it?"  said 
his  mother.  "I  will  place  it  in  my  left  pocket, 
which  is  nearest  my  heart. ' '  The  young  Prince  was 
always  charming  to  the  Queen,  and  never  lost  an 
opportunity  of  saying-  tender  and  loving  thing's 
to  her.  Prom  the  time  of  the  insulting  assault 
on  the  palace  in  June,  the  King  and  Queen  aban- 
doned themselves  to  their  fate;  their  only  fear 
was  for  their  two  children.  At  the  joublic  cere- 
mony to  celebrate  the  sack  of  the  Bastille,  they 
knew  by  the  lowering  looks  of  the  multitude, 
that  they  were  subject  to  merciless  hostility. 
Their  danger  was  increased  b}^  the  injudicious 
proclamation  of  the  Duke  of  Brunswick,  saying- 
that  he  was  advancing  from  Coblentz  at  the  head 
of  a  larg-e  army  of  Germans  to  free  the  King  and 
maintain  the  law. 

The  Duke  of  Orleans  took  advantage  of  all 
these  events  to  inflame  and  infuriate  the  mob. 
By  his  means  an  army  of  Marseilles  composed  of 
about  seven  hundred  hardened  ruffians  from  that 

70 


The  Massacre  of  Tuileries 

Where  seven  thousand  people  were  murdered  and  the  monarchy  fell. 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

seaport  town,  commenced  their  march  across  the 
whole  length  of  Prance,  gathering-  to  their  stan- 
dard the  lowest  elements  along  the  way,  until 
when  they  finally  marched  unwashed  into  Paris, 
they  were  a  hobo  band  of  five  thousand  provincial 
cutthroats  added  to  its  depraved  populace.  The 
frightful  excesses  constantly  committed,  were 
frequently  condoned  and  remitted  by  the  Assem- 
bly and  exterisive  massacres  celebrated.  None 
but  the  innocent  were  punished.  These  awful 
excesses  derived  added  horror  from  wild  tumult- 
uary cries,  dances  and  songs  with  scenes  of  blood- 
shed. The}^  sang  Caira  over  unhappy  victims 
carried  to  execution,  and  danced  the  Carmagnole 
with  a  song  stimulative  of  acts  of  atrocity.  The 
most  stirring  was  the  warlike  song  of  liberty  of 
Captain  Rouget  de  Lisle,  caught  up  by  levies  of 
revolutionary  troops,  its  stirring  refrain  swept 
through  the  rough  camp  of  the  refuse  of  Marseilles 
who  gave  to  the  song  and  tune  the  name  of  Mar- 
seillaise. 

The  cap  of  liberty,  as  it  was  called,  made  of 
red  woolen  goods,  formed  like  a  Phrygian  bonnet, 
became  popular. 

As  crimes  went  unpunished  all  kinds  of  excesses 
were  committed  and  neither  person  nor  property 
was  safe.  In  their  maniacal  fury,  the  French  did 
not  stop  at  mere  murder,  but  cut  off  the  heads  of 
victims  which  they  carried  about  the  streets;  and 
even  sank  so  low  as  to  eat  parts  of  the  flesh.    Mr. 

71 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

William  Chambers  writing  of  this  period  says: 
"A  people  priding  themselves  on  their  philosophy, 
their  literature,  and  their  refinement,  sank  in 
social  estimation  below  the  Bosjesmen  of  Southern 
Africa,  or  the  natives  of  Tierra  del  Puego.  The 
excesses  were  of  course  the  work  of  the  most 
despicable  of  the  population,  but  in  ever}"  instance 
politicians  of  high  standing,  men  renowned  in 
science  and  art,  fomented  and  extenuated  atroci- 
ties." 

In  midsummer  the  insurrection  was  ready  to 
burst  forth.  Rumors  of  their  impending  fate  had 
come  to  the  Queen  from  time  to  time.  They  had 
warning  of  the  uprising.  They  saw  the  sun  go 
down  in  red  on  the  evening  of  August  9th,  1792. 
With  dread  and  anxiety  they  waited  all  night 
long.  None  in  the  palace  retired.  Seven  hundred 
nobles  had  gathered,  old  and^^oung,  armed  with 
old  pistols  or  swords  to  make  their  last  futile 
defense  of  the  head  of  their  order.  The  servants 
snatched  the  tonges  from  the  hearth.  Out  on 
the  midnight  air  rang"  the  bells,  the  tocsin  of 
anarchy,  as  notice  to  the  multitude  to  slide  out  of 
their  slums  into  the  street.  The  Queen,  Eliza- 
beth and  the  King  trembled  at  the  ominous 
sound.  Over  in  the  suburbs  the  din  was  begin- 
ning. Soon  they  were  on  the  march,  gathering 
forces  from  every  street.  Thousands  holding 
aloft  pikes,  guns  and  daggers  swarmed  along  the 
morning  dew  wet  streets  of  Paris.     The  maj^or 

72 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

was  powerless.  Mandat  head  of  the  guard  was 
murdered;  the  mob  commanded  the  town  and  set 
up  its  own  government.  Little  preparation  was 
made  for  resistance  at  the  palace.  The  guard 
were  infected  and  the  gunners  put  out  their  fuse. 
The  King  walked  out  to  review  the  guard.  They 
met  him  with  angry  looks;  but  the  faithful  Swiss 
in  their  bright  red  coats,  "were  drawn  up  like 
red  walls." 

The  money  and  jewels  in  the  jDalace  were 
secreted.  All  was  made  ready  for  the  assault. 
A  musket  shot  was  heard  from  the  garden.  The 
Queen  said:  "There  is  the  first  shot;  unfortun- 
ately it  will  not  be  the  last."  The}"  heard  of 
Mandat's  assassination  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville  for 
ordering  the  National  Guard  to  protect  the  cit3^ 
When  the  King  went  among  the  gunners  of  his 
guard,  they  thrust  their  fists  in  his  face,  "insult- 
ing him  in  the  most  brutal  language."'  The  Queen 
remarked:  "All  is  lost. "  The  Queen  and  Eliza- 
beth went  to  the  window  to  watch  the  sun  rise, 
which  that  day  set  on  the  monarchy.  The  un- 
kempt multitudes  from  the  foubourgs  with  their 
pikes  and  cutlasses  filled  the  Carrousel  and  streets 
about  the  Tuileries,  the  din  was  deafening.  The 
black  Marseillais  were  at  their  head,  dragging 
cannon  which  was  pointed  at  the  Tuileries. 

Since  the  advent  in  town  of  the  Marseillais  the 
audacity  of  the  rebels  had  surpassed  their  pre- 
vious insults  to  the  Queen,  from  underneath  the 

73 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

windows  of  her  private  apartments  and  she  had 
moved  up  into  the  rooms  of  the  Dauphin.  The 
little  prince  after  his  short  walks  in  the  protected 
garden,  would  go  to  his  lessons;  in  the  evening 
he  was  entertained  by  a  marvelous  story  teller  in 
the  person  of  a  retired  naval  officer.  "This 
amiable  child  who  was  not  old  enough  to  foresee 
the  misfortune  which  threatened  him,  was  still 
happy."  Being  warned  not  to  talk  of  things  he 
overheard  said  to  Madam  Tourzel:  "Confess, 
that  I  am  very  discreet,  and  that  I  have  never 
compromised  anybody;  I  am  inquisitive;  I  like 
to  know  what  is  going  on;  and  if  I  am  not  trusted, 
do  not  say  anything  before  me."  This  discretion 
so  rare  at  his  age  of  seven  years,  he  retained  in 
sj^ite  of  future  ill  treatment.  The  Dauphin  was 
delighted  to  have  the  Queen  sleep  in  his  room, 
and  ran  to  her  bed  as  soon  as  she  was  awake,  put 
his  arms  around  her,  and  said  tender  loving 
things  to  her.  Now  on  this  fatal  and  last  night 
in  their  palace  of  the  Tuileries  "the  Dauphin's 
calm  and  peaceful  slumbers  were  in  stril^ing  con- 
trast with  the  agitation  that  reigned  in  every 
mind." 

As  the  rebel  mob  throbbed  about  the  defenseless 
palace,  it  was  seen  there  was  no  hope  for  the 
King  but  in  flight.  The  attorney  general  Roe- 
derer  hastened  to  the  King.  "There  is  not  five 
minutes  to  lose  sir,"  he  said,  "there  is  no  safety 
for  your  majesty  but  in  the  National  Assembly. 

74 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

The  gunners  are  not  willing-;  they  cannot  be  re- 
lied upon;  they  will  not  fire;  the  assault  will 
begin  immediately."  As  the  King  was  reluctant 
to  go  he  was  informed:  "The  Foubourgs  are 
coming  down,  sir,  the  crowd  is  enormous,  and 
they  bring  cannon."  The  King  arose.  "Let  us 
go,"  he  said.  The  ministers  and  some  members 
of  the  Assembly  joined  the  procession.  The 
garden  was  still  free.  The  Dauphin  kicked  the 
dried  autumn  leaves  before  him.  As  they  ap- 
proached the  wooden  building  adjacent  occupied 
by  the  Assembly  the  crowd  closed  about  them, 
curious,  menacing  pressed  into  the  passage.  The 
little  Dauphin  could  not  go  ahead.  A  sapper  of 
the  National  Guard  took  the  little  Prince  in  his 
arms;  he  screamed;  the  Queen  cried  out  with 
affright,  but  the  man  pushed  an  opening  through 
the  throng,  made  a  path  before  her  through  the 
surging  crowd  of  people,  entered  the  Assembly 
leading  the  Royal  family,  and  placed  the  child  on 
the  desk  of  the  Assembly,  as  the  King  and  Queen 
entered  the  hall,  pursued  by  the  invectives  of 
the  mob.  The  King  was  seated  by  the  side  of 
the  president.  "Gentlemen, "  said  he,  "I  have 
come  here  to  prevent  a  great  crime."  "Your 
Majesty  may  count  on  the  firmness  of  the  Nation- 
al Assembly,"  replied  the  President,  which  con- 
sidering the  Assembly  had  secretly  used  eight 
hundred  thousand  dollars  to  create  the  insurrec- 
tion, was  well  said.     The  King,  Queen,  Dauphin 

75 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

and  Madam  Royal,  together  with  a  number  of 
faithful  followers  were  given  places  in  the  re- 
porters' box  back  of  the  president's  stand,  where 
for  fifteen  hours,  they  were  obliged  to  sit  listen- 
ing to  the  wild  harangues. 

In  the  meantime  the  excited  mob  had  brought 
up  their  cannon  and  fired  into  the  Palace.  The 
Swiss  guard  returned  the  fire  with  musketry  and 
the  mob  recoiled.  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  then  an 
artillery  officer,  an  eye  witness,  stood  looking 
over  the  combat  wrote:  "In  ten  minutes  the 
Marsellais  were  driven  as  far  as  the  Rue  I'Echele, 
and  only  came  back  when  the  Swiss  retreated," 
on  the  order  of  the  King  not  to  fire.  Then  was 
begun  the  massacre.  The  red  coats  of  the  faith- 
ful Swiss  guards  marked  them  for  an  easy  prey. 
Through  the  Palace  the  mob  swarmed  murdering 
all  who  could  be  reached,  "The  Palace  was 
abandoned  like  its  defenders.  The  popular  anger 
and  frenzy  destroyed  all  signs  of  fallen  grandeur; 
all  the  splendor  of  monarchy  perished  with  its 
power;  it  was  not  pillage,  it  was  devastation. 
The  same  fury  pursued  the  gentlemen  who  had 
come  to  defend  the  King,  as  they  fled  through  the 
streets  they  were  everywhere  massacred."  And 
another  writes:  "Some  of  the  Swiss  tried  to 
escape  by  the  gardens  behind  the  palace,  but 
pursued,  were  killed  amidst  the  trees  and  statues. 
A  few  servants  were  saved  by  leaping  from  the 
windows,  others  put  to  death.     The  palace  was 

76 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

ransacked  and  plundered;  the  furniture  destroyed 
the  most  horrible  scenes  took  place,  and  the  x)ile 
of  ancient  buildings  set  on  fire.  Streams  of  blood 
flowed  everywhere  from  roof  to  cellar,  and  it  was 
not  possible  to  set  foot  on  a  single  sjDot  without 
treading  on  a  dead  body.  Bands  of  ferocious 
women  killed  the  wounded  Swiss  prisoners,  tore 
out  their  entrails,  cut  up  their  bodies,  which  they 
roasted  and  ate."  Over  seven  thousand  perished 
in  the  massacre  of  the  Tuileries  on  the  tenth  of 
August. 

The  sound  of  the  carnage  reached  the  Assembly. 
The  King  and  Queen  were  the  only  ones  who  had 
hearts  that  felt  for  men.  The  Queen  seemed  for 
the  first  time  to  lose  courage.  She  hid  her  face 
in  her  hands.  Each  discharge  of  cannon  made 
them  tremble  as  they  thought  of  those  dear  to 
them  left  in  the  Palace.  '  'The  poor  little  Dauphin 
cried;  thought  of  those  whom  he  loved,  and  had 
left  behind  in  the  castle,  threw  himself  in  my 
arms,"  says  Madam  Tourzel,  "and  kissed  me." 
Several  deputies  noticed  this,  and  the  Queen  said 
to  them:  "My  son  is  tenderly  attached  to  the 
daughter  of  his  governess  who  has  remained  in 
the  Tuileries."  Pauline  Tourzel  was  the  child 
love  of  the  Dauphin  and  he  was  charming  on  this 
occasion,  by  the  sympathy  with  which  he  dis- 
played his  satisfaction  on  learning  that  his  Paul- 
ine was  not  among  the  slain. 

Deprived  of  all  servants  and  of  their  wardrobe 

77 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 


and  all  their  personal  effects,  the  royal  family 
were  kept  for  three  days  in  the  monks  cells  of  the 
old  building,  when  it  was  determined  to  take 
them  to  the  Temple.  The  Queen  shuddered  when 
she  heard  of  the  Temple,  saying:  "You  will  see 
they  will  put  us  in  the  tower  and  make  it  a  regular 
prison  for  us.  I  always  had  such  a  horror  of  that 
tower,  that  I  begged  the  Count  d'  Artois  to  have 
it  pulled  down."  The  household  was  reduced  to 
a  few  servants,  and  the  Dauphin  and  his  sister 
Madam  Royal  joined  in  requesting  Pauline  would 
go  with  them,  throwing  their  arms  around  the 
neck  of  her  mother,  begging  her  to  give  them 
their  dear  Pauline.  Their  request  was  granted. 
Madam  Campan  found  the  Queen  in  the  Feuil- 
lans  cell,  the  next  morning,  "in  bed  in  an 
indescribable  state  of  affliction.  We  found  her 
accompanied  only  by  a  bulky  woman.  Her 
Majesty  stretched  out  her  arms  to  us  saying: 
"Come  unfortunate  women,  to  one  still  more 
unhappy.  We  are  ruined;  we  are  arrived  at  that 
point  to  which  they  have  been  leading  us  for  three 
years;  we  shall  fall  in  this  dreadful  Revolution." 
Then  the  children  came  in  and  the  Queen  said: 
"Poor  children,  how  heart  rending  it  is;  instead 
of  handing  down  to  them  so  fine  an  inheritance, 
to  say  it  ends  with  us. '"  The  wife  of  the  English 
ambassador  sent  her  some  linen  for  the  Dauphin, 
and  the  Queen  having  been  robbed  by  a  pick  poc- 
ket of  her  watch  and  purse  while  jostled  by  the 

78 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

crowd  at  the  entrance  to  the  assembly,  borrowed 
seventy-five  louis  of  one  of  her  ladies. 

The  assembl}"  in  the  presence  of  the  King-  and 
Queen  decreed  the  forfeiture  of  the  crown  and  the 
authority  of  the  King-  was  at  an  end.  They 
assigned  to  the  royal  family  a  residence  in  the 
tower  of  the  palace  called,  "Le  Temple"'  which 
had  been  used  in  olden  time  by  the  Knights 
Templars,  and  was  the  property  of  Artois.  It 
was  now  the  prison  and  last  home  of  King  Louis 
XVI  and  Marie  Antoinette. 


4* 


79 


VIII 

THE   KING   FALLS   A   VICTIM   OF   ANARCHY. 

AFTER  three  days  spent  in  the  ancient 
monks  cells,  the  King,  Queen  and  children, 
were  taken  at  six  in  the  evening  into  one  of 
the  large  court  carriages,  and  commenced  their 
journey  across  the  city  to  the  gloomy  Temple.  As 
soon  as  the  carriage  started  the  multitude  "made 
the  air  resound  with  shouts  of  "Long  live  the 
nation,"  "Long  live  liberty,"  adding  the  filthiest 
and  coarsest  remarks,"  which  never  ceased  dur- 
ing the  prolonged  journey  over  the  boulevards. 
Passing  the  statue  of  Louis  XIV  which  had  been 
thrown  down  by  the  vandals,  Manuel  said  to  the 
King:  "You  see,  Sire,  how  the  people  treat  their 
Kings."  "May  it  please  God,"  replied  Louis 
XVI,  "that  its  fury  may  only  be  vented  on  inani- 
mate things."  They  were  glad  to  arrive,  at  the 
Temple  to  escape  the  insults  of  the  mob.  It  was 
lighted  from  one  end  to  the  other.  The  hall  was 
filled  with  candles.  They  were  met  by  a  large 
delegation  of  the  Commune,  disgustingly  attired, 
who  kept  their  hats  on  and  plied  the  King  with 
ridiculous  questions.  "What  is  your  profession" 
asked  the  King  of  one  of  them.  "Cobbler"  he 
replied. 

80 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

The  poor  little  Dauphin  overcome  with  sleep 
and  fatigue  begged  to  be  put  to  bed,  but  was 
always  told  it  was  not  ready.  He  was  laid  on  a 
couch,  where  he  slept  soundly.  After  a  long  wait 
a  grand  supper  was  served.  No  one  was  tempted 
to  eat.  The  Dauphin  was  so  fast  asleep  when  he 
took  his  soup,  that  his  governess  was  obliged  to 
take  him  on  her  knee.  An  officer  came  to  say  his 
room  was  ready;  he  took  him  up  in  his  arms  and 
hurried  him  off  with  such  rapidity  that  we  had 
great  difficulty  in  keeping  up  with  him.  "We  were 
in  mortal  dread,"  says  Madam  Tourzel,  "as  we 
saw  him  go  through  subways,  and  this  dread  was 
increased  when  we  saw  him  take  the  young  Prince 
to  a  tower,  and  place  him  in  the  room  set  apart 
for  him.  1  put  him  to  bed  and  then  seated  myself 
in  a  chair,  the  prey  to  the  saddest  reflections.  I 
shuddered  at  the  idea  of  being  separated  from 
the  King  and  Queen,  and  I  was  very  glad  when  I 
saw  Her  Majesty  come  into  the  room.  She  took 
my  hand,  saying:  "Did  I  not  tell  you  truly?"  and 
then  going  to  the  bed  side  of  the  dear  child,  who 
was  fast  asleep,  the  tears  came  to  her  e3''es." 

The  Temple  prison  consisted  of  one  large  tower 
of  considerable  height,  with  turrets  at  the  angles; 
a  smaller  tower,  was  annexed,  in  which  the  fam- 
ily was  at  first  located.  It  had  two  rooms  on  each 
floor,  with  a  small  passage  between  the  two.  In 
the  passage  went  the  Princess  de  Lamballe,  and 
the  Queen  had  the  room  facing  that  of  the  Dau- 

81 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

phin.  The  King  was  on  the  floor  above  and  a 
guard  had  the  opposite  room.  There  being  no 
place  for  Princess  Elizabeth,  she  was  given  a 
"frightfully  dirty  kitchen  which  opened  into  the 
guard  room."  As  for  Pauline  she  was  taken  in 
charge  by  Elizabeth,  who  had  a  folding  bed  set 
up  next  to  her  own.  The  noise  of  the  soldiers  in 
the  adjoining  room,  put  an  end  to  all  sleep.  The 
Queen's  room  being  the  largest,  was  used  by  the 
family  during  the  day,  but  not  alone,  as  a  guard 
was  kept  constantly  in  the  room.  Often  during 
pleasant  days  their  Majesties  took  the  children 
for  a  walk  in  a  garden  within  the  walls. 

Madam  Campan  seeking  in  vain  among  the  city 
authorities  for  a  permit  to  live  in  the  Temple  and 
serve  the  Queen,  had  been  told  b}^  Petion  the 
Ma5^or:  "You  may  be  certain  that  all  those  who 
were  then  with  Louis  XVI  and  his  family,  would 
not  staj^  with  them  long,"  and  they  were  all 
removed  except  the  King's  valet,  Clery,  within 
five  days.  They  had  suspected  something  of  it  in 
the  evening,  but  Madam  de  Tourzel  had  >retired 
and  was  asleep,  when  she  was  awakened  to  be 
informed  that  Princess  de  Lamballe  had  been 
arrested.  A  moment  after,  an  officer  came  to 
order  her  and  Pauline  to  dress  at  once  and  go  out 
into  the  night  with  them.  Madam  carried  the 
Dauphin  fast  asleep  in  his  bed  to  the  Queen,  who 
made  them  a  sorrowful  parting  of  touching  sym- 
pathy.    The  three  women  were  incarcerated  in 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

the  La  Force  prison,  from  which  Pauline  and  Mad- 
am escaped,  but  the  good  Princess  was  murdered 
on  the  3rd  of  September,  and  had  her  head  carried 
past  the  Temple  to  the  horror  of  the  Royal  family. 

There  were  searching-  visits  to  private  houses, 
ostensibly  to  secure  all  arms  for  the  soldiers  said 
to  be  making  ready  to  defend  France  from  inva- 
sion, but  which  was  to  disarm  innocent  people, 
fill  the  prisons  with  enemies  and  suspected  aris- 
tocrats, who  it  was  resolved  by  the  anarchists  to 
massacre  en  masse,  for  which  purpose  the  city 
government  hired  three  hundred  assassins,  at 
twenty-four  francs,  about  five  dollars  each.  The 
victims  driven  from  their  cells,  were  stabbed,  cut 
down  and  murdered,  as  they  issued  into  the 
street.  To  afford  amusement  to  spectators,  the 
city  arranged  seats  in  the  streets  for  the  people, 
and  at  night  lighted  the  shambles.  Two  hundred 
clergy  perished.  To  women  they  were  peculiarly 
barbarous.  This  riot  of  blood  lasted  four  days 
and  eight  thousand  persons  perished. 

The  taxes  which  worried  Louis  XVI  at  the 
beginning  of  the  troubles  was  only  thirty-five 
million,  whereas  now  the  annual  expenditures 
increased  to  s650,000,000.  The  French  forces  or- 
ganized by  the  genius  of  Carnot  and  commanded 
by  Dumourier  drove  all  before  them  in  the  for- 
eign war. 

The  Royal  family  in  confinement  in  the  Temple, 
enjoyed   themselves  as   best   the}^   could.     They 

83 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

mended  and  made  over  clothing,  and  read  from 
books  in  the  prison  library,  A  new  wall  having 
been  made  about  the  garden,  they  enjoyed  there 
the  fresh  air  and  green  grass.  The  King  took 
delight  in  instructing  the  Dauphin,  and  the  Queen 
washed  and  dressed  him.  They  had  never  been 
quite  so  intimate  before  as  they  were  now.  From 
their  lofty  tower  they  could  hear  the  ferocious 
multitude  shouting  revolutionary  songs  and  men- 
aces. It  was  only  by  means  of  the  whispering  of 
Clery,  the  faithful  valet,  that  they  learned  of 
things  outside.  He  dressed  the  Queen's  hair  and 
at  such  times  could  give  her  information  without 
being  noticed  by  the  guard,  who  remained  in  the 
room.  After  the  Queen  had  dressed  the  Dauphin, 
he  would  kneel  to  say  his  prayers.  While  the 
family  were  in  the  garden  the  children  played 
ball  and  games  with  Clery.  The  garden  con- 
tained a  walk  shaded  by  chestnut  trees.  In  the 
evening  the  little  Dauphin  took  his  supper  separ- 
ately and  was  put  to  bed,  the  Queen  hearing  him 
say  his  prayers,  and  undressing  him  herself.  She 
mended  his  clothing  in  the  evening  after  he  had 
retired. 

Until  the  shock  of  the  dreadful  death  of  the 
Princess  de  Lamballe,  the  Queen  had  preserved 
her  usual  energy;  but  after  that  event  lived  in  a 
state  of  terror.  Daily  the  crowd  assembled  under 
the  windows  of  the  Temple,  demanding  with  loud 
cries  the  heads  of  Louis  XVI  and  Marie  Antoi- 

84 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

nette.  She  could  heroically  face  danger  to  her- 
self; but  the  horror  of  constantly  dreading-  the 
murder  of  her  children  and  husband  before  her 
eyes  was  too  much  for  her;  and  when  on  the  29th 
of  September,  the  city  officers  came  to  remove 
"Louis  Capet"  as  they  named  the  King,  to  the 
large  tower,  the  Queen  was  in  despair,  being 
convinced  they  intended  to  murder  him.  She 
passed  the  night  in  sobs  and  tears.  In  the  morn- 
ing refused  all  food  and  implored  the  guard  with 
such  passionate  entreaties  for  permission  to  see 
the  King  at  meals,  the  favor  was  granted.  They 
were  all  very  soon  transferred  to  the  larger  tower, 
but  it  broke  the  Queen's  heart  to  have  the 
Dauphin  lodged  with  the  King  and  Clery  on  the 
second  floor,  taking  him  away  from  his  mother  at 
night.  The  rooms  were  dark  and  gloomy  with 
heavy  locks  and  massive  keys,  hoodwinked 
windows,  iron  bars.  The  little  Dauphin  was 
much  depressed  by  this.  No  divine  service  was 
permitted  them,  so  the  King  read  the  prayers 
and  gospel.  They  were  deprived  of  pens,  ink, 
paper  and  pencil.  The  King  was  thirty-eight 
years  of  age;  the  Queen  thirty-seven;  Madam 
Elizabeth  twenty-eight;  Madam  Royal  thirteen 
and  the  Dauphin  seven  years  old.  The  festive 
season  Christmas  and  New  Year  brought  only 
fresh  sorrows. 

On  the  6th  of  December,  Clery  heard  that  the 
King  was  to  be  tried  and  that  during  its  course 

85 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

he  would  be  separated  from  the  Queen  and  the 
family.  Clery  had  the  painful  duty  of  preparing 
the  King-  for  this  new  ordeal  and  gently  broke 
the  news  to  him  while  undressing-  his  master.  On 
the  11th,  there  was  a  great  noise  in  the  streets.  The 
drums  beat  to  arms  and  the  troops  came  into  the 
garden  of  the  Temple.  After  breakfast  the  King 
went  down  stairs  as  usual  with  his  son  for  his 
lesson;  but  at  eleven  o'clock  two  guards  came  to 
take  the  Dauphin  away  to  his  mother.  At  one 
o'clock  there  came  a  deputation  to  take  the  King 
to  the  bar  of  the  National  Assembly  for  trial.  When 
the  Queen  knew  that  the  King  had  been  taken  away 
she  was  alarmed  for  his  safety,  and  urgently 
plied  the  guards  with  questions  for  some  informa- 
tion. When  the  King  returned  at  six  o'clock  he 
begged  to  see  his  family,  but  in  vain.  He  was  to 
remain  alone  with  Clery  after  this.  The  Dauphin 
was  with  the  Queen.  "My  mother, ' '  says  Madam 
Royal,  "spent  the  night  with  him.  As  he  had  no 
bed,  she  gave  him  her  own,  and  sat  up  all  night 
so  absorbed  in  grief  that  my  aunt  and  >myself 
would  not  leave  her."  In  vain  did  Marie  Antoi- 
nette entreat  to  be  permitted  to  see  her  husband 
in  the  morning.  She  never  saw  him  again  in  this 
world,  except  once,  when  he  bid  her  farewell  to 
go  to  his  death.  On  Christmas  the  King  wrote 
to  his  wife  in  a  letter  which  she  was  not  permit- 
ted to  see.  "I  charge  my  son,  in  case  that  he 
should  ever  have  the  misfortune  of  being  a  King, 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

to  remember  that  he  must  be  entirely  devoted  to 
the  happiness  of  his  fellow  citizens;  that  he  must 
forget  all  rancor  or  hatred,  more  especially  with 
reg-ard  to  the  misfortunes  and  sorrows  to  which  I 
am  subject." 

The  sentence  of  death  was  pronounced  by  a 
majority  of  seven.  The  infamous  Orleans  in- 
curred ignominy  and  contempt  by  adjudging-  his 
kinsman  to  death,  in  voting  as  a  member  of  the 
Assembly  for  the  sentence  of  "death."  It  was 
announced  to  the  King  on  the  20th  of  January  to 
take  place  the  next  day.  Being  permitted  to  say 
farewell  to  his  familj%  the  Queen  holding  the 
little  Dauphin  by  the  hand  came  in  first,  followed 
by  Madam  Elizabeth  and  Madam  Royal.  All  had 
learned  the  awful  truth  by  overhearing  the  news- 
boys calling  their  papers  on  the  street.  With  a 
flood  of  tears  the  Queen  threw  herself  into  his 
arms.  They  all  wept  together.  The  King  ex- 
plained the  trial,  excusing  the  wretches  who 
wanted  to  put  him  to  death.  '-He  then  addressed 
religious  exhortations  to  my  brother;  he  espe- 
cially commanded  him  to  forgive  those  who  were 
the  cause  of  his  death,  and  gave  him  his  blessing, ' ' 
says  Madam  Royal.  In  his  last  moments  he  sum- 
moned Clery  and  gave  into  his  hands  a  small 
packet  for  the  Queen,  containing  a  seal  for  the 
Dauphin  and  his  wedding  ring. 

The  Queen  had  spent  the  night  before  the  death 
of  the  King,  lying  on  her  bed,  without  undressing, 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

incessanth'  "sobbing-  and  shuddering'  with  grief. " 
The  morning  passed  in  the  horrible  expectation 
of  the  visit  of  the  King  to  say  farewell.  At  the 
last  moment  he  had  not  the  courage  and  was 
carried  away.  They  never  saw  him  afterwards, 
and  learned  his  fate  from  the  public  criers  in  the 
street.  At  seven  o'clock  the  Queen  had  been 
refused  permission  to  go  to  the  King's  chamber. 
The  Dauphin  who  was  now  up  and  dressed,  under- 
stood the  terrible  situation.  He  sprang  from  his 
mother's  arms  and  rushed  to  theg^uards,  clasping 
their  knees  and  crying:  "Let  me  go,  Messieurs  I 
let  me  go."  "Where  do  you  want  to  go?"  "To 
speak  to  the  people,  to  beg  them  not  to  kill 
my  papa  the  King,  let  me  go."  The  guard  pushed 
the  boy  aside.  He  went  slowly  away,  but  kept 
on  crying,  "Oh!  papa,  papa."  The  Queen  pressed 
him  in  her  arms. 


ff* 


88 


IX 


THE   LITTLE   KING   TORN   FROM   HIS    MOTHER. 

THE  heir  of  the  title  which  once  filled  half  the 
world  with  its  scepter,  a  little  helpless  child, 
was  weeping"  bitterly  in  prison  beside  his 
widowed  mother.  She  treated  her  son  as  King- 
of  Prance,  with  the  etiquette  which  had  been 
conceded  to  the  King  father  even  in  prison.  In 
many  parts  of  Prance  the  Dauphin  was  hailed  as 
Louis  XVII.  In  La  Vendee  in  southwest  Prance, 
the  people  would  not  recognize  other  authority 
than  Louis  XVII.  The  Dauphin  was  acknowl- 
edged to  be  King  in  all  the  courts  of  Europe;  and 
by  the  armies  fighting-  ag-ainst  the  Republic,  as 
Prance  called  itself,  he  was  proclaimed  by  the 
title  of  Louis  XVII.  At  the  same  time  his  uncle, 
the  Count  de  Provence  (who  afterwards  became 
King  Louis  XVIII)  assumed  the  title  and  position 
of  Regent  of  the  Kingdom  of  Prance,  during  the 
minority  of  Louis  XVII.  All  these  marks  of 
esteem  and  titular  dignity  were  of  no  avail  to 
mitigate  the  sufferings  of  the  little  boy  in  prison, 
as  the  anarchists  had  usurped  the  g-overnment 
and  instituted  for  the  revolution  the  Reign  of 
Terror.  The  prisoners  were  under  the  commune 
of  Paris,  and  by  their  various  mean  agents  were 
subject  to  the  most  cruel  privations. 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

The  cruel  whims  of  the  commune  toward  the 
Queen  and  children,  did  not  go  to  the  extent  of 
denjdng-  them  the  permission  to  w^ear  mourning- 
for  their  beloved  dead,  and  as  the  garments  sent 
to  them  were  badly  made,  and  caused  them  to 
appear  ridiculous,  permission  was  given  to  a  good 
friend  to  alter  them.  As  she  was  out  of  the  prison 
at  night  and  could  obtain  information  of  friends, 
of  whom  the  Queen  wished  to  know,  but  could  not 
talk  to  the  roj'^al  prisoners  because  of  the  presence 
of  the  guards,  or  the  Tyson  woman,  who  though 
doing  menial  service,  was  really  a  spy.  The  lit- 
tle King  made  up  a  play  of  running  from  the 
Queen  to  this  lady  while  she  plied  her  needle  and 
back  again,  always  taking  a  few  words  of  a  mes- 
sage. This  pretty  scene  is  described  by  Madam 
Tourzel:  "The  Dauphin  whose  age  was  an  excuse 
for  any  curiosity,  took  advantage  of  it  to  ask  me, 
under  cover  of  an  apparent  game,  all  the  ques- 
tions the  royal  family  wished.  He  ran  by  turns 
to  me,  then  to  the  Queen,  the  two  Princesses  and 
even  to  the  municipal  guard.  Every  time  he 
came  to  me  he  never  failed  to  question  me  about 
the  persons  in  whom  the  royal  family  took  an 
interest.  He  told  me  to  embrace  you  and  Paul- 
ine for  him,  and  forgot  none  of  those  he  loved. 
He  played  his  part  so  well,  that  no  one  suspected 
he  spoke  to  me.'' 

The  little  King  was  taken  sick  and  they  would 
not  give  him  any  but  the  prison  medicine.     The 

90 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

physician  kindly  consulted  Brunger  the  court 
doctor  to  obtain  information  about  the  temper- 
ament of  the  child,  and  the  littleKing-  soon  re- 
covered. 

The  Duke  of  Orleans  came  frequently  to  the 
Temple  disguised  as  a  guard  with  a  wooden  leg, 
to  secretl}^  gloat  over  the  condition  of  the  royal 
family.  On  one  occasion  he  had  bribed  the  men 
who  were  to  light  the  fires,  to  admit  him  in  their 
place  to  the  room  of  Princess  Elizabeth.  Find- 
ing her  on  her  knees  in  prayer  for  the  soul  of  the 
murdered  King  her  brother,  he  was  so  overcome 
with  remorse  that  he  hurried  out  saying:  "That 
woman  has  unmmaned  me,"  by  which  he  was  dis- 
covered. The  Queen  exclaimed  when  she  heard 
of  these  visits:  "Merciful  Heavens!  is  he  not  yet 
satisfied?  Must  he  even  satiate  his  barbarous 
brutalit}'  with  being  an  eyewitness  of  the  horrid 
state  into  which  he  has  thrown  us?"  She  gave 
way  to  a  flood  of  tears  as  she  recalled  to  mind 
the  cruel  injustice  of  this  most  unworthy  relative. 

Some  time  after  this  it  is  certain  that  he  visited 
the  Queen  and  that  the  just  reproach  with  which 
she  scorned  him,  led  to  her  being  removed  to  the 
common  prison,  the  Conciergerie,  and  to  her  trial. 
It  also  led  to  Orleans  being  sent  away  to  Marseil- 
les to  prevent  his  schemes  to  liberate  the  [Queen, 
for  the  sole  purposeof  having  her  in  his  own  power. 

Marie  Antoinette  was  broken  with  sorrow  and 
despair  when  the  little  King  was  brutally  taken 

91 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

away,  and  delivered  over  to  the  cruel  care  of  the 
* 'cobbler"  Simon.  It  was  at  ten  o'clock  at  night, 
the  time  usually  set  for  the  dark  deeds  of  the  com- 
mune, July  3,  1793,  the  six  commissioners  came 
into  the  room  where  the  Queen  was  with  the 
youthful  King  and  read  a  decree  of  the  conven- 
tion, that  the  son  of  Louis  Capet  should  be  sepa- 
rated from  his  mother,  and  given  into  the  hands 
of  a  ' 'tutor, ' '  who  would  be  appointed  by  the  com- 
mune. The  child  was  ill  and  sound  asleep.  Over 
the  posts  the  Queen  had  hung  a  shawl  to  guard 
his  eyes  from  the  light,  by  which  she  and  Eliza- 
beth were  mending  their  clothes.  I  he  noise  made 
by  the  men  awakened  the  little  King.  As  soon 
as  he  heard  this,  he  threw  himself  into  his  moth- 
er's arms  and  piteously  begged,  "entreated  with 
violent  cries  not  to  be  separated  from  her."  The 
Queen  "was  struck  to  the  earth  by  this  cruel 
order;  she  would  not  part  with  her  son,  and  she 
actually  defended  against  the  efforts  of  the  offi- 
cers, the  bed  on  which  she  had  placed  him,  she 
exclaimed,  "that  they  had  better  kill  her,  than 
tear  her  son  from  her."  She  resisted  the  officers 
for  an  hour,  while  they  heaped  threats  and  insults 
on  her.  Princess  Elizabeth  and  Madam  Royal 
joined  their  tears,  entreaties  and  prayers  to  keep 
the  little  boy  with  them.  The  officers  threatened 
to  kill  the  poor  boy  and  his  sister,  if  further 
resistance  was  made  to  the  order,  when  the  Queen's 
maternal  "tenderness  at  length  forced  her  to  this 

92 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

sacrifice. "  Princess  Elizabeth  dressed  him,  then 
the  Queen  took  him  in  her  arms  "and  delivered 
him  to  the  officers,  bathing-  him  with  her  tears, 
and  foreseeing-  that  she  should  never  see  him 
ag-ain.  The  poor  little  fellow  embraced  us  all 
tenderly,  and  was  carried  off  in  a  flood  of  tears." 
When  about  to  give  him  up  to  the  men  who  were 
coarsely  expressing-  their  impatience,  the  broken 
hearted  Queen  gave  him  this  beautiful  message: 
"My  child,  we  are  about  to  part.  Bear  in  mind 
all  I  have  said  to  you  of  your  duties  when  I  shall 
be  no  longer  near  you  to  repeat  it.  Never  forget 
God,  who  thus  tries  you;  nor  your  mother,  who 
loves  you.  Be  good,  patient,  kind  and  your 
father  will  look  down  from  heaven  and  bless  you. " 
Then  she  kissed  him  and  they  parted  forever. 

The  Princess  Royal  says  that  her  mother  never 
looked  up  after  the  loss  of  her  son.  It  was  thus 
that  the  envoy  of  Austria  saw  her  sitting  on  her 
low  stool,  her  face  the  picture  of  apathy.  A 
treaty  had  been  made  with  Robespierre  the  erst 
while  dictator  of  France,  to  free  the  Queen;  but 
she  refused  a  liberty  which  did  not  include  her 
children. 

After  her  son  had  been  delivered  up  to  Simon, 
"then,"  says  the  Princess  Royal,  "my  poor 
mother  would  sit  whole  hours  in  silent  despair; 
and  her  only  consolation  was  to  go  to  the  leads 
of  the  tower,  because  my  brother  went  often  on 
the  leads  of  the  tower  on  the  other  side.     The 

93 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

only  pleasure  my  mother  enjoyed  was  seeing-  him 
through  a  chink  as  he  passed  at  a  distance.  She 
would  watch  at  this  chink  for  hours  together,  to 
see  the  child  as  he  passed;  it  was  her  only  hope, 
her  only  thought. " 

Princess  Elizabeth  was  informed  by  friendly 
g-uards  of  the  ill  treatment  and  degradation  of  the 
little  King-,  and  "which  was  beyond  imagination, " 
says  Madam  Royal.  They  were  entreated  not  to 
mention  it  to  the  Queen;  but  she  was  only  too  sure 
of  his  treatment  when  she  caught  sight  of  her 
child  through  the  "chinks"  and  saw  his  pale,  sor- 
rowful face.  The  last  time  that  such  miserable 
comfort  was  granted  her,  was  on  July  30th,  three 
days  before  she  was  removed  from  the  Temple. 
She  had  been  keeping  her  faithful  vigil  at  the 
"chinks,"  and  at  last  saw  him,  cowed  and  terri- 
fied, bereft  of  his  golden  curls,  wearing  a  red  rev- 
olutionary cap,  and  singing  a  song  of  coarse 
insult  against  herself.  She  knew  then  how  the 
child  must  have  suffered  before  he  could  have 
been  brought  to  this." 

She  was  forced  to  rise  at  two  o'clock  on  the 
night  of  Aug-ust  2nd,  to  dress  in  presence  of  three 
men,  and  taken  to  the  Conciergerie  prison.  On 
passing  the  low  doorway  of  the  cell  she  struck 
her  head.  Being  asked  if  she  was  hurt,  she  re- 
plied: "Nothing  can  hurt  me  now."  She  was 
placed  in  a  low,  damp  cell,  where  the  mould  cov- 
ered her  shoes,  deprived  of  all  comforts  and  even 

94 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

privacy,  for  two  maleg-uards  remained  in  the  cell 
nig-ht  and  day.  After  a  miserable  existence  in 
this  gloomy  prison,  and  an  insulting-  trial,  the 
brave,  beautiful,  broken  Marie  Antoinette,  was 
taken  in  a  two  wheeled  criminal  cart  along  streets 
lined  with  heartless  men  and  women  to  the  place 
where  was  set  up  that  sharp  blade  of  the  g-uillo- 
tine.  A  Queen  to  the  last  moment,  she  apolo- 
gized to  the  executioner  Sanson,  for  stepping  on 
his  foot.  The  knife  fell;  her  head  was  held  aloft 
for  exhibition  to  the  populace.  This  was  October 
16th,  and  on  November  6th,  Orleans  who  had 
been  incarcerated  in  the  same  cell,  was  tried,  con- 
demned and  executed,  meeting  his  fate  with  stoi- 
cal fortitude,  "leaving  none  in  France  to  mourn 
his  loss."  The  horrible  history  of  the  Revolu- 
tion has  been  mentioned  only  so  far  as  required 
to  understand  the  story  of  the  Prince.  Passion, 
outrage  and  murder  had  long  since  possessed  the 
government.  They  now  abolished  the  calender; 
they  abolished  the  sabbath  day;  they  destroyed 
with  ghoulish  ferocity  the  tombs  of  the  King's  at 
St.  Denis;  and  abjured  Christianity;  desecrated 
the  churches;  and  declared  marriage  a  civil  con- 
tract. Its  ridiculous  and  horrible  proceedings 
came  to  end  within  two  years  when  Napoleon  shot 
it  to  pieces,  and  scattered  the  mob.  "The  num- 
ber of  persons  destroyed  during  the  Revolution" 
says  Mr.  Williams  Chambers,  "has  been  reckoned 
to  be  1,027,106.     The  world  has  nothing  to  equal 

95 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

this  in  atrocitjs  nor  is  there  any  such  instance  of 
a  worthless  faction  terrifying  the  community  into 
submission.  The  fact  is  not  less  curious,  that 
during-  the  worst  period  of  the  Reign  of  Terror, 
all  the  theaters  and  other  places  of  amusement 
in  Paris  were  open  and  well  attended.  And  a 
peculiar  characteristic,  the  conclusion  of  the 
Reign  of  Terror  was  signalized  by  a  ball,  called 
"Le  bal  des  Victims;"  only  those  ladies  being 
admitted  who  had  lost  relatives  by  the  guillo- 
tine and  their  hair  was  tied  up  as  if  ready  for 
execution," 


^fy 


X 

THE  LITTLE  KING  DID  NOT  DIE  IX  THE  TEMPLE. 

1.  The  Baby  King  in  the  Temple.  2.  Went  Living  Out  From 
THE  Temple.  3.  The  Dumb  Boy.  4.  The  Chatterbox.  5.  The 
Solemn  Fabce.  6.  Fab  too  Tall  for  the  Little  King.  7.  Cof- 
fin Marked  '-L— XII"  Exhumed  and  the  Bones  Found  to  be 
Adult.  8.  History  Confirms  the  Escape.  9.  The  Unclaimed 
Heart. 

I.      THE  BABY  KING  IN  THE  TEMPLE. 

ON  that  unhappy  night  when  the  King  and 
family  were  taken  to  the  illuminated 
Temple,  the  entrance  hall  was  filled  with 
vulg-ar  members  of  the  infamous  commune.  They 
were  mostly  there  to  see  the  misery  of  the  King. 
They  boldly  "asked  him  a  thousand  questions," 
says  Duchess  de  Tourzel,  "and  one  of  them  seated 
on  a  sofa,  said  the  most  extraordinary  things  to 
him  about  the  happiness  of  equality.  -What  is  your 
profession?'  said  the  King  to  him.  'Cobbler,'  he 
replied."  This  was  Simon  the  cobbler,  who  be- 
came the  jailor  or  tutor  of  the  baby  King  on  that 
sorrowful  night  of  the  third  of  July,  when  the 
child  was  torn  from  his  bereaved  mother's  arms 
by  the  heartless  commissaries. 

Simon  would  threaten  him  with  the  guillotine, 
which  so  filled  him  with  terror  that  he  fainted. 
He  forced  him  to  drink  raw  spirits  which  stupefied 
him.  As  soon  as  Simon  had  the  Prince  in  his 
power,  he  stripped  him  of  the  suit  of  mourning, 

97 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

g-iven  him  for  his  father,  and  dressed  him  in  a  red 
cap,  coarse  jacket  called  carmag-nole,  or  sans 
culotte  uniform;  taught  him  revolutionar}^  songs 
and  blasphemous  oaths  which  he  obliged  him  to 
repeat  at  the  windows,  so  as  to  be  heard  by  the 
guards.  He  would  rouse  the  Prince  at  night  from 
sleep  with  loud  cries  of  Capet!  Simon  was  fre- 
quently intoxicated,  when  his  ill  usage  of  the 
child  was  still  more  horrible;  and  if  not  protected 
by  the  wife  of  Simon,  the  Prince  would  have  been 
killed  through  the  crazy  violence  of  the  brute. 
The  grateful  Prince  showed  her  every  attention, 
as  she  boasts  he  would  run  to  clean  and  black 
her  shoes,  and  bring  the  foot  warmer  to  her  bed- 
side before  she  arose  in  the  morning.  Think  of 
such  service  for  the  wench  Simon,  "fat,  short, 
brown  and  ugly. " 

Simon  was  fifty-seven  years  of  age,  short, 
robust,  square,  with  repulsive  deformed  features, 
coarse  black  hair,  thick  eye-brows.  A  loud 
anarchist  in  his  section,  no  wonder  he  had  politi- 
cal influence,  and  was  spewed  into  the  Covmcilof 
the  City.  Such  as  he  sat  the  saddle  in  those 
days.  None  live  in  Prance  or  elsewhere  to  ap- 
plaud the  "tutor"  of  the  little  King. 

Once  he  plied  him  with  wine,  took  him  into  the 
presence  of  the  saintly  Elizabeth  and  Madam 
Royal,  to  sing  the  Carmagnole,  then  compelled 
him  to  relate  the  trial  of  the  Queen,  and  when 
the  poor  child  began  to  sober,  and  attempted  to 


The  Little  King  in  the  Temple 

Under  the  Infamous  Simon  The  Shoe  Cobbler.     iFrom  Guizot's  Historj-.) 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

kiss  his  sister's  hand,  the  wretch  snatched  him 
away. 

"The  Royal  Child,"  says  Guizot,  History  of 
France,  "had  been  at  first  thrown  into  infamous 
hands.  It  was  to  a  shoemaker,  known  by  Marat, 
his  neighbor  and  passionate  admirer,  that  the  son 
of  Louis  XVI,  but  lately  tlie  'child  of  Prance,' 
had  been  delivered.  Coldly  cruel,  bent  upon  de- 
stroying- in  the  child  that  superiority  of  race  and 
education,  which  irritated  the  jealous  passions  of 
his  soul,  Simon  at  first  loaded  him  with  bad  treat- 
ment; one  day,  however,  he  became  uneasy  and 
went  to  the  Committee  of  Public  Safety. 

"The  young-  wolf  has  learned  to  be  insolent;  I 
know  how  to  break  him  in,  but  if  he  should  die,  I 
am  not  responsible  for  it.  Do  you  want  to  kill 
him?" 

"No." 

"To  poison  him?" 

"No." 

"To  get  rid  of  him?" 

"Silence  alone  replied  to  Simon. "  "I  am  horri- 
fied," continued  Guizot,  "at  the  recitals  and 
spectacles  of  human  cruelty,  and  this  systematic 
cruelty  exercised  upon  a  child,  offers  a  character 
so  odious,  that  I  do  not  care  to  dwell  on  it  long, 
Simon  wished  to  degrade  the  soul,  debase  the 
mind  of  the  royal  child  confided  to  him.  He 
intoxicated  him,  and  forced  him  to  repeat  the 
songs   which   sullied  his  own  lips;  he  had  thus 

99 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

obtained  a  signature,  perhaps  by  force,  to  the 
infamous  question  produced  before  the  judges  of 
Marie  Antoinette.  But  by  and  by  the  little  child 
got  weaker,  the  shame  and  horror  of  his  situation 
overwhelmed  him;  he  had  no  longer  strength  to 
resist,  but  he  had  sufficient  to  suffer  in  silence. 
He  did  not  speak,  he  did  not  complain;  suspicion 
of  everything  around  him  alone  occupied  this  poor 
abandoned  soul;  he  still  said  his  prayers,  in  spite 
of  the  jugs  of  cold  water  that  Simon  threw  over 
him  at  these  times.  When  his  tormentor  had  the 
honor  to  enter  into  the  commune,  the  members  of 
the  Commission  did  not  grant  even  a  jailer  to  the 
son  of  Louis  XVI.  The  former  chamber  of  the  faith- 
ful Clery  was  metamorphosed  into  a  dungeon,  the 
door  was  closed,  and  bread  and  water  passed 
through  a  wicket;  the  child  remained  alone.  His 
sister  has  related  the  sufferings  of  the  little  king, 
in  a  solitude  which  she  was  never  permitted  to 
break,  and  which  oppressed  her  with  grief  in  her 
neighboring  prison. 

"He  had  no  other  recourse  than  a  small  bell, 
which  he  never  rang,  so  much  fear  had  he  of  the 
persons  he  would  have  called,  preferring  to  want 
everything  rather  than  to  ask  the  least  thing 
from  his  persecutors.  He  was  in  a  bed  which  was 
not  made  for  more  than  six  months,  and  which  he 
had  no  longer  the  strength  to  make.  Fleas  and 
bugs  covered  him,  his  linen  and  his  body  was  full 
of  them,  and  his  shirt  and  stockings  had  not  been 

100 


PRIXCE      OR      CREOLE 

changed  for  more  than  a  year.  His  \Yindow,  shut 
■with  a  padlock,  was  never  opened.  It  was  not 
possible  to  stay  in  the  infected  chamber;  the 
unfortunate  child  was  dying-  with  fear.  He  asked 
for  nothing,  so  much  he  trembled  at  his  keepers. 
He  passed  the  days  without  doing-  anything;  they 
g-ave  him  no  lights;  it  is  not  astonishing  that  he 
fell  into  a  f righ  tf ul  consumption.  To  have  resisted 
so  many  cruelties  so  long  proves  that  he  had  a 
good  constitution.'  '' 

The  commune  in  its  selection  of  the  brutal  shoe- 
maker Antoine  Simon  named  his  salarj^  at  500 
francs  a  month.  His  wife,  formerly  a  domestic 
servant,  was  his  second  wife  and  childless.  His 
seat  in  the  commune  became  suddenly  vacant,  as 
merited  retribution  followed  Simon,  who  sided 
with  Robespierre  and  perished  with  him  on  the 
same  guillotine. 

II.      THE  LITTLE  KING  WENT  LIVING  FROM  THE 
TEMPLE. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  motive  inspiring 
those  who  secretly  arranged  for  the  removal  of 
the  young  King  from  his  living  tomb  in  the  Tem- 
ple, it  is  certain  that  he  did  not  die  there. 

Some  have  supposed  the  Prince  was  secretly 
saved  because  Barras  and  Josephine  had  hopes 
that  in  happier  times,  they  might  bring  him  for- 
ward, and  seated  on  his  throne  their  fortune 
would  be  secure.     Barras  had  been  a  soldier,  and 

101 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

having  been  a  libertine  and  debauche  had  dissipa- 
ted an  ample  fortune,  which  drew  him  into  the 
revolution  as  an  adventurer,  a  member  of  the 
third  estate  and  though  a  noble,  a  most  ardent 
revolutionist.  At  the  head  of  the  committee  and 
the  soldiers  who  overthrew  the  infamous  Robes- 
peirre,  Barras  was  at  the  time  he  visited  the 
Temple,  the  most  powerful  man  in  France,  and 
retained  his  influence  until  Napoleon,  whom  he 
had  made  famous  b}^  appointing  to  command  the 
artillery  which  scattered  the  mob  and  saved  the 
convention,  seized  the  government,  when  Barras 
went  into  obscurity.  Some  have  thought  the 
Prince  was  removed  to  a  place  of  safety  and 
obscurity,  to  clear  the  pathway  for  the  Comte  de 
Provence  to  the  throne  when  the  people  of  France 
should  demand  the  Restoration.  He  was  after- 
ward King  of  France,  styled  Louis  XVIII. 

That  the  Prince  was  saved  to  serve  the  purpose 
of  ambitious  men  and  not  from  any  feelings  of 
humanity,  does  not  change  the  suspicion  and 
facts  of  history.  In  1852,  M.  Beauchesne  pub- 
lished an  exhaustive  work  in  two  volumes,  evi- 
dently inspired  by  some  high  authority,  to  prove 
the  death  of  the  Prince  in  the  Temple,  yet  he 
only  added  to  the  obscurity  surrounding  the  tomb 
of  the  Prince,  while  he  admits,  "Before  the  veil 
which  has  enveloped  the  tragical  end  of  the  son 
of  Louis  XVI,  one  is  not  astonished  to  hear  it 
said  with  the   warmth  of  profound    conviction, 

102 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

that  the  young-  victim  went  out  living  from  his 
prison." 

France  in  1794  was  becoming  tired  of  the  hor- 
rors of  the  Revolution  and  the  legitimists  or 
Ro3'al  party,  were  growing-  in  favor  and  their 
hopes  centered  in  the  prisoner  in  the  Temple,  or 
the  stronger  man  be3^ond  the  border,  the  Comte 
de  Provence,  who  had  been  justly  accused  even 
in  his  brother's  lifetime  of  designs  on  the  throne. 
His  hopes  increased  as  the  condition  of  France 
grew  worse;  he  kept  up  a  correspondence  with 
emissaries  throughout  the  kingdom. 

Barras  was  among  the  leaders  who  overthrew 
Robespierre  and  was  bound  to  maintain  the  power 
now  in  his  hands. 

"By  conniving  at  the  escape  of  the  young  King 
or  even  by  contriving  it,  Barras  could  please 
Josephine  de  Beauharnais,  who  at  that  time  had 
an  all-powerful  influence  over  him,  and  the  child 
could  he  be  produced  at  the  right  moment,  might 
checkmate  the  ambitious  projects  of  Louis  XVIII. , 
and  serve  purposes  of  his  own. 

It  is  a  fact  that  on  the  very  night  of  his  triumph 
on  the  9th  Thermidor,  Barras  went  to  the  Temple; 
that  he  there  saw  the  child  King;  that  the  very 
next  da}',  without  any  communication  with  the 
committee  of  public  safety,  which  up  to  that  time, 
had  controlled  affairs  in  the  prison,  he  assigned 
a  retainer  of  his  own  to  be  superintendent  of  the 
prison,  Laurent,  a  man  born  in  Martinique,  (Jose- 

103 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

phine's  birthplace).  Laurent  turned  out  the  peo- 
ple charged  with  the  care  of  the  child  and  put  in 
a  man  and  his  wife  named  Lienard." 

After  Simon  gave  up  the  care  of  the  Prince  on 
January  19,  1794,  he  was  transferred  to  the 
smaller  room  once  used  by  Clery.  It  had  one 
window  fastened  by  a  padlock,  which  stood  in  the 
deep  recess  of  a  nine  foot  stone  wall,  its  meager 
light  obscured  by  iron  grating.  His  food  was 
handed  in  through  a  revolving  cage,  obscuring  the 
jailor,  who  never  opened  the  apartment.  No  sun- 
light, no  fresh  air  came  to  him,  the  room  never 
cleaned  or  emptied,  echoed  to  the  sound  of  a  gruff 
voice  at  evening,  bidding  him  to  bed,  or  calling 
him  at  dead  of  night  for  inspection  at  an  iron  grat- 
ing, by  the  light  of  a  lantern. 

On  his  appointment  July  27,  1794,  Laurent  keep- 
er of  the  Temple,  went  at  night  to  the  child  King. 
No  response  came  to  the  loud  calls  of  Laurent, 
and  the  barricaded  door  was  broken  open.  The 
chamber  was  hideous  in  filth  and  pestilential  air. 
Laurent  and  associates  made  their  way  tq  the  cot 
of  the  Prince,  who  was  discovered  to  be  still 
alive.  His  last  food  was  not  tasted.  Worn  to  a 
skeleton,  his  skin  scarcely  visible  for  dirt,  cov- 
ered with  vermin,  and  vermin  everywhere  even 
knotted  in  his  hair.  He  answered  no  questions, 
was  conscious  of  nothing.  His  eyes  had  no  ex- 
pression. "To  the  first  accents  of  pity  which 
struck  his  ear  for  a  long  time,  he  only  replied, 

'No,  I  wish  to  die.'" 

104 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

III.      THE   DUMB  BOY. 

During-  the  first  three  months,  (July  27  to  Nov. 
8,  1794),  after  Laurent  took  the  care  of  the  Royal 
children,  many,  persons  saw  the  Prince,  but  none 
of  them  described  him  as  either  dumb  or  scrofu- 
lous, on  the  contrary  all  spoke  of  him  as  a  some- 
what delicate  child,  with  gentle  manners,  who 
charmed  all  of  them. 

But  suddenly  instead  of  allowing  visitors  to 
have  access  to  him,  as  had  been  the  case  for 
three  months  after  Laurent  came  in,  every  one 
was  forbidden  to  see  him.  This  prohibition  cor- 
responds with  two  circumstances: 

Madam  Royal,  his  sister,  relates  that  on  the 
last  night  of  October  in  the  middle  of  the  night, 
two  municipal  guards,  much  excited,  forced  their 
way  into  her  chamber.  They  said  nothing.  All 
they  wanted  ai)parently  was  to  see  if  she  was 
there.  No  such  thing  happened  before  or  after 
during  her  captivity.  The  second  fact  is  that  a 
week  later  Gomin  was  joined  to  Laurent. 

Laurent,  a  man  of  private  property,  not  de- 
void of  taste,  information  and  good  feeling-,  but  a 
zealous  republican,  was  kind  to  the  little  King, 
but  after  awhile  tired  of  his  lonel}^  vigil  applied 
to  the  Committee  of  General  Safety  for  a  col- 
league. Doubtless  this  was  the  method  of  intro- 
ducing a  new  warden  to  the  boy,  who  took  the 
place  of  the  Prince  in  the  Temple. 


105 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

Gomin,  who  was  appointed  on  Nov.  8,  1794,  as 
associate,  owes  to  this  his  only  title  to  mention 
by  posterity,  corresponded  with  equal  freedom 
with  either  royalist  or  republican  and  doubtless 
had  an  itching  palm,  for  we  find  he  made  such 
favor  with  Madam  Royal  by  his  own  story  of  his 
goodness  to  the  Prince  as  to  be  taken  into  her 
service  when  she  became  the  Duchess  de  Angou- 
leme. 

'  'Gomin  was  cleverer  than  Lasne, "  says  Duchess 
de  Tourzel,  "but  more  ambitious  and  not  so  frank. 
He  paid  great  attention  to  Madam  de  Chautereine, 
in  hope  that  she  might  be  useful  to  him;  and  he 
persuaded  her  that  he  came  of  a  very  good  fam- 
ily, although  he  was  merely  the  son  of  the  guard 
of  Madam  Nicolai." 

On  the  century  anniversary  of  the  reputed 
death  of  the  little  King  in  the  Temple,  June  8, 
1895,  "Figaro"  the  great  Paris  journal,  issued  a 
long  review  of  the  subject  showing  the  King  did 
not  die  in  the  Temple,  from  which  Mrs.  Latimer 
finds  authority  to  write:  "About  the  tiipe  that 
Gomin  went  into  the  Temple  there  was  a  general 
impression  among  the  underlings  of  the  Temple 
that  something  strange  had  taken  place.  The 
fidelity  of  Laurent  was  called  in  question  in  the 
Sections.  An  official  connected  with  the  Temple 
said  openly  that  it  was  hard  for  the  guard  to  say 
if  they  were  keeping  watch  over  prisoners,  or 
only  over  stones.     All  those  w^ho  serA^ed  in  menial 

106 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

capacities  in  the  Temple  were  changed,  some  of 
them  at  the  request  of  Laurent,  who  had  begun 
his  service  July  27,  1794,  and  some  afterwards  by 
the  desire  of  Gomin.  Up  to  this  man's  time  there 
had  been  a  daily  inspection  of  the  prison  and  the 
prisoners,  bj^  members  of  the  Council-General  of 
the  Commune.  This  inspection  was  replaced  by  a 
daily  visit  from  a  deputation  from  the  sections, 
taking  the  thirty-six  sections  in  turn,  so  that 
instead  of  men  who  had  seen  the  prisoners  only 
a  short  time  before,  new  men  came,  w^ho  were  not 
likely  to  take  their  turn  again  for  a  long  while. 

According  to  an  old  custom,  things  coming  into 
the  Temple  were  not  examined, — only  those  that 
went  out.  It  was  easy  enough  therefore  to  bring 
a  child  into  the  Tower  in  a  clothes  basket,  and 
this  was  done  probably  with  two  children,  one 
after  the  other,  while  the  young  King  was  hidden 
in  some  secret  corner,  waited  on  by  Gomin,  Lien- 
ard  and  Laurent. 

This  is  the  only  way  to  account  for  the  sudden 
dumbness  of  the  child  in  prison,  which  took  place, 
not  in  consequence  of  remorse  for  having  been 
made  to  malign  his  mother,  but  nine  months  after 
the  Simons  had  been  removed  from  him,  and 
kinder  jailors  had  taken  their  place.  The  first 
child  brought  in  to  take  the  place  of  the  young 
captive  was  dumb.  The  Dauphin,  up  to  the  time 
when  Laurent  divided  his  care  of  him,  had  spoken 
at  least  to  twenty  people.     But  the  child  com- 

107 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

mitted  to  Gomin's  care  on  November  8,  1794, 
could  not  speak  a  single  word.  There  are  plenty 
of  official  documents  and  depositions  on  this  sub- 
ject, the  most  important  of  which  is  the  testimony 
of  members  of  the  Committee  of  Public  Safety." 
(Figaro.) 

"Gorain  told  me  that  when  the  young  King  was 
handed  over  to  their  care,"  says  the  Duchess  de 
Tourzel,  "he  was  in  a  state  of  neglect  which  was 
painful  to  see,  and  from  which  he  suffered  the 
most  disastrous  inconvenience.  He  had  fallen 
into  a  state  of  continual  absorption;  speaking 
little,  and  displaying  unwillingness  either  to  walk 
or  to  occupy  himself  with  anything." 

Rev.  Dr.  John  Hanson  who  wrote  the  "Lost 
Prince"  supposed  the  Prince  still  the  prisoner  in 
the  temple  when  Gomin  went  there  and  describes 
the  secret  operations  of  agents  of  the  Comte  de 
Provence  to  get  possession  of  him.  He  supposes 
the  escape  of  the  Prince  a  few  days  before  the 
death  of  the  substitute  who  died  June  8th,  1795. 
He  says,  "Gomin  was  a  confident  of  M.  le  Marquis 
de  Fenouil,  a  secret  agent  of  Comte  de  Provence, 
who  corresponded  through  one  Doisy  his  valet 
de  chambre.  About  the  same  time  one  Debierne 
appointed  acting  Commissioner  co-ojierated  with 
Gomin  concerning  the  escape  of  the  Prince. 

Debierne  and  Doisy  represented  themselves  as 
relatives  of  Gomin  and  came  frequently  to  see 
him  in  the  apartments  of  Lienard  the  steward, 

108 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

who  was  also  a  sentinel.  Debierne  brought  first 
plaything's  for  the  Prince;  then  showed  Gomin 
some  assignats  issued  in  the  name  of  Louis  XVII, 
made  payable  on  the  restoration;  also  told  Gomin 
of  a  design  to  carry  the  Prince  into  La  Vendee. 
One  day  he  brought  a  dove  concealed  under  his 
cloak  into  the  temple. 

In  the  convention  on  December  28,  1794,  it  was 
declared  there  was  no  hope  of  quelling  the  royal- 
ists while  the  Prince  remained  in  Paris,  and 
"measures  should  be  taken  to  purge  the  soil  of 
the  sole  vestige  of  tyranny  that  remained;"  and 
moved  the  Prince  should  be  exiled.  But  on  the 
22d  of  January,  1795,  the  committee  reported  un- 
favorable to  the  proposition  because,  "the  expul- 
sion of  tyrants  had  always  prepared  the  way  for 
their  return. '" 

On  February  26,  1795,  the  commissaries  of  the 
temple,  Laurent  and  Gomin,  reported  to  the  com- 
mittee of  General  Safety  that  the  life  of  the  prince 
was  in  imminent  danger  and  on  being  asked, 
"what  was  the  nature  of  the  danger,"  replied, 
"that  the  little  Capet  had  tumors  on  all  the  arti- 
culations and  particularly  at  the  knees,  that  it 
was  impossible  to  obtain  from  him  a  single  word, 
and  that  always  whether  sitting  or  lying  down  he 
refused  all  kinds  of  exercise." 

A  committee  consisting  of  Hammond,  Matthieu 
and  Reverchon  were  appointed  to  visit  the  pris- 
oner, three  friends  of  Barras,  like  himself  mem- 

109 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

bers  of  the  convention.  They  found  him  in  a 
clean  and  well  lighted  room,  having  no  furniture 
but  a  bedstead,  a  table  and  earthen  stove. 

"The  Prince,"  says  Hammond,  "was  sitting 
before  a  little  square  table,  on  which  were  scat- 
tered some  playing  cards,  some  bent  into  the  form 
of  boxes  and  little  chests,  others  piled  upin  castles. 

He  was  amusing  himself  with  these  cards  when 
we  entered,  but  he  did  not  give  up  his  play.  He 
was  dressed  in  a  sailor  jacket  of  slate  colored 
cloth,  his  head  was  bare. "  Hammond  approached 
him,  he  took  no  notice;  and  spoke  to  the  Prince, 
but  he  looked  steadily  forward  without  any 
change  in  his  position.  He  promised  him  toys, 
but  he  stared  vacantly.  To  all  questions  he  ans- 
wered neither  by  gesture,  expression  nor  word. 
"Monsieur,  have  the  goodness  to  give  me  your 
hand.  He  presented  it,  and  I  felt  a  tumor  at  the 
wrist,  another  at  the  elbow,  like  knots.  The 
tumors  were  not  painful  for  the  Prince  showed 
no  sign  of  their  being  so.  The  other  hand  Mon- 
sieur. He  presented  it  also.  There  was  nothing. 
Permit  me  sir,  to  touch  your  legs  and  your  knees. 
He  raised  himself  up.  I  felt  the  same  swelling  at 
the  two  knees  under  the  joints."  His  dinner  was 
now  brought.  He  ate  without  saying  anything. 
They  threatened  if  he  did  not  speak  to  remove 
Laurent  and  Gomin,  who  were  kind  to  him,  and 
send  him  others  who  might  be  more  disagreeable 
to  him.     He  neither  changed  his  look,  nor  gave 

110 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

an  answer.     "Do  j'ou  wish,"  inquired  Hammond, 
"that  we  should  g"o  away?"    There  was  no  reply. 

"The  commissioners  were  present  at  his  meal, " 
says  Guizot,  "and  found  it  insufficient  for  a  sick 
child."  "It  was  much  worse  before  our  time," 
said  the  keepers.  For  the  honor  of  the  nation, 
which  was  ignorant,  for  the  honor  of  the  conven- 
tion, which  should  not  have  been  ignorant  of 
what  passed  at  the  Temple,  for  the  honor  of  the 
culpable  municipality  of  Paris,  which  knew  all, 
and  which  allowed  all,"  wrote  Harmand  of  the 
Meuse,  one  of  the  representatives  charged  to 
visit  the  little  King,  "we  limit  ourselves  to  order 
provisionary  measures.  We  do  not  make  a  public 
report  to  the  Convention,  but  we  render  an  ac- 
count under  the  seal  of  secrecy  to  the  Committee 
of  Public  Safety.  The  prison  and  the  solitude 
gradually  finished  their  work;  no  doctor  had  yet 
been  called  to  the  child." 

"Another  curiouscircumstance  isthatHarmand, 
almost  immediately  after  this  visit,  was  sent 
away  as  delegate  to  the  West  Indies.  Barras 
himself  had  some  idea  of  accompanying  him  on 
this  mission.  It  looks  as  if  they  were  planning  to 
secure  their  own  safety  in  any  event,  or  as  if  it 
had  been  intended  to  send  the  child  to  some 
French  colony  in  America." 

"Both  Harmand  and  Barras  went  to  Brest, 
stayed  there  several  weeks,  and  then  returned  to 
Paris." 

HI 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 


"Laurent  left  the  Temple  on  March  29,  1795. 
It  was  said  that  he  too  was  going  to  the  West 
Indies  to  attend  to  family  affairs;  but  he  did  not 
leave  Paris.  Sometime  later  indeed  he  went  to 
the  Windward  Islands  on  a  mission  for  which  he 
was  well  paid  by  the  government.  But  by  that 
time  Barras  was  a  member  of  the  Directory,  and 
Laurent  was  sent  on  the  mission  at  his  recom- 
mendation. A  new  turnkey  took  his  place  at  the 
Temple,  Etienne  Lasne,  on  March  31,  a  house 
painter.  [A  captain  of  Grenadiers.]  ['-A  frank 
soldier  devoid  of  ambition,"  says  TourzeL] 

"Gomin  and  Laurent  had  had  under  their  care 
for  six  months  a  child  who  never  spoke  a  word." 

"The  child  confided  to  Lasne,  he  tells  us  him- 
self, could  chatter  like  a  little  magpie.  Gomin 
had  nothing  more  to  do  with  the  young  prince  (or 
the  child  who  personated  him.)  He  was  transferred 
to  the  service  of  Madam  Royal."     (Latimer.) 

IV.      THE   CHATTER-BOX. 

Soon  as  Lasne  came  in,  there  w^as  a  disposition 
to  aid  in  the  escape.  The  keys  which  made  a 
noise  in  the  locks  were  oiled.  He  ordered  the 
doors  on  the  landings  to  be  left  open.  The  act- 
ing commissaries  objected  to  this  saying  doors 
were  put  there  to  be  kept  shut.  There  was  per- 
fect accord  between  Gomin  and  Lasne.  Hereto- 
fore the  keys  could  only  be  used  in  presence  of 
both  the  keepers,  but  now  placed  at  the  disposal 

112 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

of  either  of  them  at  an}^  time.  They  introduced 
music  into  the  tower,  and  though  unskilled, 
Gomin  played  the  violin,  and  Lasne  sang.  All  of 
which  was  said  to  allay  suspicion.  The  Prince 
yielded  after  three  weeks  to  the  kindness  of 
Lasne  and  during  the  rest  of  his  life  took  pleas- 
ure in  chatting  with  him,  and  "contrary  to  his 
habit,  he  theed  and  thoud  him,  and  treated  him 
with  familiarity." 

"Beginning  of  May,  1795,  the  keeper  wrote  on 
the  Register  of  the  Tower  "the  little  Capet  is 
indisposed,"  and  the  next  day,  "the  little  Capet 
is  dangerously  ill,  and  there  is  fear  of  his  death." 

"On  6th  of  May,  1795,  the  keepers  were  informed 
that  M.  Desault  the  chief  surgeon  in  France,  and 
of  world  wide  renown,  was  appointed  to  take 
care  of  the  Prince.  He  ordered  a  decoction  of 
hops  and  next  day  that  his  tumors  be  rubbed  with 
volatil  salts.  These  were  his  remedies  while  he 
attended  him  up  to  the  30th  of  May.  June  1st 
Desault  was  poisoned."     (Lost  Prince.) 

''Desault  is  reported  by  M.  Beauchesne  to  have 
said  in  conversation,  that  the  Prince  had  the 
germ  of  the  scrofulous  affection  of  which  his 
brother  had  died,  at  Meudon:  but  this  malady 
had  scarcely  imprinted  its  seal  on  his  constitu- 
tion, nor  manifested  itself  with  any  violent  sym- 
tom;  neither  vast  ulcers,  nor  rebellious  ophthal- 
mia, nor  chronic  swellings  of  the  joints."  He  said 
he  was  sinking  under  decline  occasioned  by  con- 

113 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

finement  and  advised  removal  to  the  country. 
The  Duchess  D'  Angouleme  says  "he  undertook 
to  cure  him."  No  record  of  Desault's  opinion 
remains.  His  papers  cannot  be  found.  Dr. 
Desault  had  been  physician  to  the  roj^al  children 
and  some  said  he  did  not  recognize  the  Prince  in 
his  patient.  Desault  did  not  treat  the  patient  as  if 
he  felt  he  was  seriously  ill.  M.  Abeille,  his  medical 
pupil,  fled  to  America  and  declared  that  Desault 
was  poisoned. "     (Lost  Prince.) 

"Three  doctors  were  sent  to  see  him,  Desault, 
Chopart  and  Doublet.  It  is  hinted  that  it  proved 
a  dangerous  mission.  All  three  shortly  after  died 
suddenly.  The  principal  pupil  of  Desault,  Dr. 
Abeille,  went  off  to  America  for  safety,  and  sub- 
sequently affirmed  in  an  American  paper  ("The 
Bee"),  that  his  master  had  been  poisoned,  because 
having  seen  the  prince  in  happier  times  he  had 
not  recognized  him  in  the  child  he  was  called 
upon  to  visit  in  the  Temple,  and  had  had  the 
impudence  to  say  so.  Another  physician  and  Dr. 
Desault's  wndow  have  made  a  similar  declara- 
tion."    (Latimer.) 

Four  days  after  the  death  of  Dr.  Desault  the 
Committee  of  General  Safety  appointed  Dr.  Pel- 
letan  (June  5,  1795)  an  eminent  surgeon  to  attend 
the  boy  in  the  Temple.  He  had  never  seen  the 
Prince  before.  The  child  was  in  a  sad  state  and 
he  demanded  another  to  be  associated  with  him. 
"This  child  was  not  so  shy,  instead  of  waiting  to 

114 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

be  spoken  to  he  began  to  converse  with  the 
strang'e  physician  and  displayed  every  sig"n  of  a 
child  alive  to  his  surrounding's."  He  required 
his  removal  into  another  room  and  fresh  air. 
This  was  an  airy  chamber,  no  bars  to  the  win- 
dows, which  had  white  curtains.  Here  he  could 
see  the  sunlight  and  sky.  M.  Dumangin,  chief 
physician  to  the  Hospital  of  the  Unity,  was  joined 
to  Pelletan,  and  both  at  once  examined  the  child 
who  continued  to  talk  and  chat  with  unabated 
interest.  But  their  efforts  were  too  late  to  save 
the  life  of  this  poor  waif,  who  expired  in  the  arms 
of  Lasne  at  thirty  minutes  past  two  of  the  after- 
noon of  June  8,  1795.  (Lost  Prince.)  We  are 
told  that  this  event  is  recorded  on  the  tombstone 
of  this  jailer  in  Pere  Lachaise. 

V.      THE   SOLEMN    FARCE. 

Some  little  time  after  the  death,  Gomin  set  off 
to  the  Tuileries  to  report  it  to  the  Committee  of 
Public  Safety,  who  had  closed  their  sitting  for 
the  day,  but  met  a  member  on  the  stairs  who 
bade  him  "keep  the  secret  until  tomorrow."  The 
next  day  after  the  Process  Verbal  (post  mortem) 
had  been  held,  the  Committee  reported  to  the 
Convention,  the  death  of  the  Prince,  from  "a 
.swelling  in  the  right  knee  and  left  wrist,"  add- 
ing, the  committee  had  "received  the  news  of  the 
death  of  Capet's  son  at  a  quarter  past  two  of  the 
previous   afternoon."      The  process  verbal  says 

115 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

he  died  at  three  o'clock;  and  Lasne  saj'^s,  at  half 
past  two.  Gomin  says  three  o'clock.  But  the 
very  hour  of  the  same  day  of  the  death  of  the 
Prince,  the  Committee  of  General  Safety  made 
the  discovery  that  he  had  escaped,  and  the  order 
was  recorded  and  sent  out  to  the  departments  to 
arrest  on  every  high  road  in  France,  any  traveler 
having-  with  them  a  child  of  eight  years  or  there- 
about, as  there  had  been  an  escape  of  Royalists 
from  the  Temple.  This  order  bore  date  June  8th, 
1795,  the  day  of  the  death  of  the  supposed 
Dauphin.  Several  people  bear  witness  to  being 
arrested  and  detained  for  identification;  among 
them  M.  Guerwiere  of  Paris;  while  traveling  in 
the  carriage  of  the  Prince  de  Conde,  under  the 
suspicion  that  he,  a  boy  of  ten  years  was  the 
Dauphin. 

On  the  morning  of  June  9,  two  members  of  the 
Committee  came  at  8  o'clock  to  verify  the  decease 
of  the  prince;  but  did  not  examine  the  body. 
"The  event,"  they  said,  "is  a  matter  of  no  im- 
portance." "Proceed  to  the  inhumation  without 
any  ceremony."  Four  surgeons  were  named  to 
open  the  body.  Dr.  Pelletan  took  the  heart.  He 
was  buried  in  the  cemetery  of  L'  Eglise,  Ste 
Marguerite,  June  10,  1795. 

Mr.  Auvray  says  he  was  well  acquainted  with 
the  Dauphin,  and  was  joresent  when  the  body  was 
exhibited  to  the  National  Guard,  and,  "that  it 
was  not  the  body  of  the  Dauphin."    (Lost  Prince.) 

116 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

'  'There  is  a  mystery  even  as  to  what  this  child  died 
of.  The  dumb  child  had  the  rickets  (rachitis)  a 
disease  that  begins  in  infancy,  preventing  the 
nourishment  of  all  the  tissues  affecting  the  spinal 
column  and  the  rest  of  the  bones.  There  was  no 
mention  in  his  case  of  scrofula,  but  the  second 
child,  the  chatterbox,  was  eaten  up  by  scrofula." 
(Latimer.) 

The  physicians  appointed  to  open  the  body  of 
the  dead  child  in  the  Temple  were  Pelletan  and 
Dumangin,  who  had  attended  him,  associated  with 
Professors  Lassas  and  Jeanroy,  both  of  Medical 
schools.  The  latter  was  an  old  man  over  eighty 
years  of  age,  a  royalist  and  scrupulously  honest. 
He  was  selected  to  disprove  the  charge  of  poison- 
ing. He  at  first  refused  to  go  to  the  Temple, 
warning  them  that  if  he  found  the  slightest  trace 
of  poison  he  would  mention  it,  even  at  the  risk 
of  his  life.  "You  are  jorecisely  the  man  we  must 
have,"  the}^  replied,  "and  it  is  for  that  reason 
that  we  prefer  you  to  anyone  else."  Their  report 
recites:  "We  found  upon  a  bed  the  body  of  a 
child,  who  appeared  to  us  about  ten  3'^ears  of  age, 
which  the  Commissaries  told  us  was  the  son  of 
the  deceased  Louis  Capet,"  and  the  .death  was, 
"evidently  the  effect  of  a  scrofulous  disease  of 
long  standing."'  The  Convention  had  every 
reason  for  wishing  to  establish,  as  a  fact,  the 
death  of  the  young  King;  and  yet  not  a  single 
person  who  had  ever  known  the  Dauphin  living 

117 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

was  called  to  identify  the  dead  childs  remains, 
though  his  sister  was  in  the  Temple  and  mem- 
bers of  the  Royal  household  were  in  the  power 
of  the  authorities.  The  only  j^eople  summoned 
to  identify  the  remains  were  the  municipal  guards 
on  duty  at  the  Temi:)le,  about  twenty  men,  and 
according  to  the  official  document,  "the  greater 
part  attested  that  they  recognized  Little  Capet 
because  they  had  seen  him  formerly  at  the  Tuiler- 
ies.  The  child  died  at  the  age  of  ten,  and  for 
■five  years  before  his  death  he  had  been  little  seen 
by  the  Parisians.  "The  man  who  announced  the 
death  to  the  Convention  in  the  name  of  the  Com- 
mittee of  Public  Safety,  assured  his  hearers  "that 
everything  had  been  verified  and  all  the  docu- 
ments placed  in  their  archives."  This  was  not 
true.  No  one  has  ever  seen  the  originals  of 
these  documents.  A  copy  on  a  loose  sheet  of 
paper  (contrary  to  the  law  of  1792)  was  among 
the  city  archives,  and  was  burnt  up  when  the 
Hotel  de  Ville  was  destroyed  by  the  Communists 
in  1872.  What  is  still  more  remarkable  is  that 
Gomin  was  not  called  upon  to  sign  what  is  called 
'the  act  of  decease. '  It  was  signed  by  one  Bigot, 
a  man  totally  unknown  to  the  public,  who  called 
himself  'a  friend  of  the  King  of  France.'  The 
interment  was  also  singular.  The  archivist  of 
the  police  affirmed  that  'it  was  secret,  and  in  some 
sort  clandestine. '  "  '  'But,  Voisin,  undertaker  for 
the  Section  of  the  Temple  says: 

118 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

I.  That  the  coffin  was  not  closed  in  the  Temple. 

II.  That  the  four  men  who  were  concerned  in 
the  burial  died  sudden  and  mysterious  deaths. 
The  theory  advanced  is  that  while  the  coffin  lay 
unclosed  after  official  inspection  of  the  child  w^ho 
died  of  scrofula,  the  real  prince,  who  had  been 
hidden  away  in  some  corner  of  the  Temple,  and 
waited  on  by  Laurent  at  first,  and  afterwards  by 
some  other  man,  may  have  been  placed  in  the 
coffin,  and  so  carried  out  of  the  Temple.  The 
coffin  was  not  carried  in  a  hearse,  but  in  a  furni- 
ture wagon.  The  child  may  have  been  taken  out 
of  it  on  the  way  to  the  cemetery  and  something 
heavy  substituted.  A  watch  for  three  days  was 
placed  over  the  graveyard.  An  old  Member  of 
the  Committee  of  Public  Safety  has  affirmed  in 
writing-  that  the  boy  who  died  of  scrofula  was 
secretly  buried  at  the  foot  of  one  of  the  towers  of 
the  Temple;  and  General  d'  Andigne,  seven  years 
later,  being  confined  in  the  Temple,  and  permit- 
ted to  amuse  himself  with  gardening,  testifies 
that  he  found  there  a  small  skeleton,  that  had 
been  buried  in  quicklime."     (Latimer  do.) 

"The  names  of  the  two  children  substituted  for 
the  prince  are  known.  M.  Charles  Tardif  twice 
affirmed  that  he  furnished  the  dumb  boy.  As  to 
the  scrofulous  child  who  died  June  8,  1795,  his 
mother,  Mademoiselle  Lamonger,  fled  with  ano- 
ther child,  a  daughter,  to  Martinique,  the  native 
Island  of  Josephine  de  Beauharnais,  and  they  did 

119 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 


not  come  back  to  France  as  long-  as  the  Bourbons 
were  in  power.  All  these  thing's  did  not  take 
place  without  a  rousing  suspicion.  Children  were 
arrested  on  the  roads  out  of  Paris  under  the  idea 
that  they  might  be  the  Dauphin.  The  leaders  of 
the  royalist  party  in  La  Vendee  refused  to  believe 
in  his  death,  and  would  not  acknowledge  Louis 
XVIII  as  their  King.  Charette,  the  Vendean 
leader  at  that  date,  thus  apostrophizes  Louis 
XVII,  in  a  celebrated  order  to  his  forces:  "Hard- 
1}^  by  the  fall  of  Robespierre  wast  thou  delivered 
from  the  ferocity  of  the  extreme  Jacobins,  when 
thou  becamest  the  victim  of  natural  defenders." 
(Latimer  do.) 
But  w^hat,  then  became  of  Louis  XVII? 

VI.       "FAR  TOO  TALL,"   FOR  THE  LITTLE  KING. 

But  here  is  a  narrative  repeated  in  the  "Lost 
Prince"  from  Ireland,  w^hich  read  in  connection 
with  the  finding  of  the  remains  said  to  be  those 
of  the  boy  w^ho  died  in  the  temple,  add  greatly  to 
confirm  the  escape  of  the  Prince. 

"A  ver}^  respectable  tradesman,"  says  Iceland, 

in  stating  the  prevalent  disbelief  in  Paris  at  the 

Restoration,  concerning  the  Dauphin's  death,  "is 

my  authority  for  the  following   narrative,    who 

has  heard  my  father,  to  whom  the  circumstance 

occurred,  repeat  it  in  society  fifty  times.     I  shall 

now  give  it,   as  nearly   as  jjossible  in   his  own 

words,  or,  rather,  as  if  the  father  himself  were 

repeating  the  facts: 

120 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

"  'As  I  was  then  a  resident  in  that  part  of  the 
city  in  which  the  Temple  was  situated,  in  my 
capacity  as  National  Guard,  it  became  my  turn 
to  attend  there  as  sentrj^;  when  having-  seen  the 
Dauphin  about  six  months  before,  and  being- 
anxious  to  behold  him  again,  if  possible,  prior  to 
his  death,  as  the  current  report  was  his  being 
in  a  very  dangerous  state;  I,  in  consequence  ap- 
plied to  the  jailor  to  know  whether  I  might  be 
permitted  to  occupy  the  post  of  the  guard, 
destined  to  keep  watch  on  the  Dauphin's  apart- 
ment, there  being  always  one  stationed  there. 
To  this  request,  after  regarding  me  with  an  air 
of  doubt,  which  the  frankness  of  my  manner  dis- 
pelled, he  acceded  under  one  proviso,  that  I  was 
not  to  exchange  a  single  syllable  with  citizen 
Capet  in  case  he  addressed  me,  as  the  infringe- 
ment of  such  order  would  be  attended  with  the 
loss  of  my  head.  I  promised  strict  obedience  to 
his  commands,  and  immediately  entered  upon  my 
duties,  being  forthwith  introduced  into  the  cham- 
ber, where  I  relieved  a  brother  guard.  In  this 
apartment  there  were  three  common  chairs,  a 
table,  and  a  low  bedstead,  whereupon  the  Dau- 
phin was  lying,  but  from  the  position  (^f  the  bed 
clothes,  I  could  not  perceive  his  countenance,  and 
thus  I  continued  nearly  the  space  of  an  hour,  only 
observing,  at  intervals,  a  motion  beneath  the 
covering;  at  length,  however,  he  pushed  away 
the  sheet  from  his  head,  when  I  was  able  to  con- 

121 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

sider  a  countenance  squalid  in  the  extreme,  par- 
tially covered  with  blotches,  and  disfigured  by- 
one  or  two  sores;  as  he  perceived  in  me  a  stran- 
ger, he  inquired,  in  a  faint  voice,  who  I  was,  but 
the  peremptory  order  received,  and  the  heavy 
price  set  upon  a  breach  of  my  faith,  sealed  my 
lips,  upon  which  I  placed  my  finger,  thereby  in- 
dicating the  prohibition  under  which  I  lay.  At 
this  he  appeared  displeased,  and  after  turning 
about,  I  beheld  his  body  rise  until  he  sat  upright 
in  bed,  when  nothing  could  exceed  my  astonish- 
ment, on  viewing  a  figure  much  taller,  from  the 
head  to  the  bottom  of  the  back,  than  the  Dauphin 
could  possibly  have  displayed  from  what  I  had 
seen  of  him  only  six  months  before;  my  wonder, 
however,  increased  on  beholding  him  thrust  his 
legs  from  beneath  the  covering,  from  which  I  was 
enabled  to  form  an  estimate  of  the  figure  before 
me,  if  standing  erect,  when  I  felt  an  inward  con- 
viction, that  however  extraordinary  the  efforts  of 
nature  may  be  in  some  cases,  no  such  change 
could  have  taken  place  in  the  growth  of  a  youth 
in  the  half  a  year,  as  must  have  been  the  case, 
supposing  the  object  before  me  to  be  the  Dauphin. 
"With  respect  to  the  pliysiognomy  it  was  impos- 
sible to  identify  from  thence  anything  for  a  cer- 
tainty, as  the  frightful  effects  of  disease,  with 
blotches  and  sores,  had  so  disfigured  the  counte- 
nance, that  no  conjecture  could  be  hazarded  as 
to  what  its  appearance  might  be  in  a  healthful 

122 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

state;  the  lips,  like  the  face,  were  also  covered 
with  livid  spots,  and  it  appeared  to  me  that  there 
were  also  scabs  on  the  hinder  part  of  the  head,  in 
short,  a  more  pitiable  object  never  met  the  human 
sight,  whosoever  it  may  have  been,  for  as  to  the 
DauiDhin,  I  am  fully  convinced  it  was  not  him. 
After  remaining-  some  minutes  with  the  legs 
exposed,  and  seated  in  a  kind  of  stupefied  posi- 
tion, he  again  replaced  them  beneath  the  clothes, 
and  covered  himself  as  high  as  the  neck,  leaving 
the  face  exposed,  and  turned  toward  me,  the 
eyes  being  somewhat  shut  for  a  few  minutes, 
which,  when  reopened,  were  always  bent  upon 
me,  and  in  two  or  three  instances,  I  saw  the  lips 
move,  and  heard  a  faint  articulation,  but  nothing 
was  distinguishable.  In  this  manner  the  allotted 
period  of  my  attendance  elapsed,  upon  which  I 
was  relieved  by  another  National  Guard  from  the 
melancholy  duty,  and  descended  to  the  chamber 
adjoining  the  grand  entrance  to  the  Temple, 
where  I  found  the  jailer,  who  inquired  of  me  how 
I  left  the  citizen  Capet;  upon  which,  after 
expressing  my  opinion  that  his  death  must  soon 
take  place,  I  very  foolishly  remarked  that  I 
thought  the  youth  by  far  too  tall  for  the  Dauphin 
— when  he  hastily  demanded  my  reason  for  har- 
boring such  a  doubt.  I  then  explained  having 
seen  the  youth  six  months  before,  and  the  abso- 
lute impossibility  of  such  a  change  in  stature 
taking  place  within  so  short  a  period.     To  which 

123 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

remark  I  received  the  followinfr  singular  reply; 
'Sick  children,  citizen,  will  sometimes  shoot  up 
ver}^  fast;  but  I  advise  you  to  g^o  home  and  keep 
a  still  tong^ue  in  3'our  mouth,  lest  you  should  grow 
shorter  by  the  head.'  I  immediately  left  the 
prison  and  profited  by  his  advice,  as  I  never 
opened  my  lips  upon  the  subject  until  the  settled 
state  of  affairs  in  Prance,  left  me  to  do  so  with- 
out any  apprehension  of  danger."    (Lost  Prince.) 

YII.   COFFIN  MARKED  "L — XVII "  EXHUMED  AND 
THE  BONES  FOUND  TO  BE  THOSE  OF  AN  ADULT. 

It  is  singular  how  closely  the  above  narrative 
is  confirmed  b}?^  the  examination  of  the  bones. 

'  'The  Dauphin's  body  was  interred  in  the  church- 
yard at  St.  Marguerite,  which  is  now  a  garden. 
At  the  Restoration  a  search  for  it  was  instituted, 
but  abandoned.  In  1846,  workmen  while  digging 
for  some  repairs  came  upon  a  lead  coffin  contain- 
ing bones.  These  were  believed  to  be  the  Dau- 
l^hin's,  and  the  discover}^  was  reported  by  two 
doctors  to  the  Academy  of  Medicine.  The  coffin 
was  closed  again  and  reburied.  The  Prefact  of 
the  Seine  allow^ed  a  fresh  search  to  be  made  in 
June,  1894.     The  coffin  found  in  1846  was  taken 

up,  on  the  lid  was  found  "L XVII,"  but  the 

medical  experts  pronounced  the  body  to  be  of  the 
stature  of  an  adult,  and  the  teeth  to  be  those  of  a 
person  more  than  twelve  5'ears  of  age,  the  milk 
teeth  having  all  disappeared,  while  the  wisdom 

124 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

teeth  were  on  the  point  of  cutting.  Thus  the 
ag^e  was  from  eighteen  to  twenty,  and  the  height 
5  feet,  7  inches."  (Paris,  in  1789-1794,  by  J.  G. 
Alger;  James  Pott  &  Co.;  New  York,  1902.) 

VIII.    HISTORY    CONFIRMS   THE   ESCAPE. 

The  political  party  which  in  1795  succeeded 
the  Reign  of  Terror,  and  the  Provisional  Govern- 
ment of  the  Commune  of  Paris,  was  willing 
enough  to  favor  the  child's  escape.  A  time  might 
come  when  in  their  hands  he  might  be  played  off 
against  Louis  XVIII.  But  his  existence  and 
recognition  were  above  all  unwelcome  to  his 
uncle  and  his  partisans.  The  Due  de  Bourbon, 
prince  of  the  blood,  writes  thus  to  Conde:  "Ru- 
mors are  becoming  rife  that  the  little  king  did 
not  die  in  the  Temple.  True  or  false,  this  would 
be  for  us  a  serious  embarrassment,  if  the  rumors 
should  take  any  consistency." 

In  the  camp  of  the  emigres  at  Coblentz  were 
numerous  noblemen  and  gentlemen  whose  lands 
had  been  confiscated,  and  who  had  accustomed 
themselves  to  look  to  the  Comte  de  Provence  as 
the  man  who  would  restore  them.  They  could 
make  no  use  of  a  child  ten  years  of  age  as  an 
active  head  of  their  party.  Far  better  for  them 
that  if  living,  his  existence  should  be  denied. 
They  had  accustomed  themselves  to  speak  of 
Louis  XVI.  with  small  respect,  and  to  place  all 
their   hopes  upon  his   brother.     Goguelat,    (the 

125 


PRINCE       OR      CREOLE 

unlucky  Goguelat  of  the  Flight  to  Varennes), 
who  had  escaped  to  Coblentz,  wrote:  "I  never 
heard  Louis  XVI,  spoken  of  with  so  much  irrev- 
erence as  by  these  men.  They  call  him  a  poor 
creature,  a  mere  chip;  a  bigot  only  good  to  say 
his  prayers.  And  their  opinions,  I  am  told, 
emanate  from  the  personal  following  of  Monsieur, 
who  had  set  them  afloat. "  Had  Louis  XVII  sud- 
denly appeared  among  his  supporters  even  in  La 
Vendee,  their  first  enthusiasm  would  soon  have 
been  damped  by  a  feeling  of  his  uselessness  to 
help  their  cause.  Thechild  would  have  been  unwel- 
come to  the  allies,  even  to  Austria,  whose  min- 
isters, as  we  have  seen,  were  eager  to  make  peace, 
Louis  XVIII,  who  hated  Marie  Antoinette,  had 
not  scrupled  long  before  to  hint  that  he  believed 
her  son  to  be  a  bastard.  He  would  certainly 
have  treated  him  as  such  had  he  fallen  into  his 
hands.  Clearly  the  best  thing  to  be  done  with 
the  poor  child  was  to  hide  him  away  till  the  time 
came  for  his  restoration  of  the  monarchy,  which 
Barras,  in  common  with  most  men,  belieyed  to 
be  at  hand.  Then  he  could  be  played  off  against 
Louis  XVIII.  Barras  could  not  forsee  the  ten 
years  of  the  Empire  that  would  precede  the 
Restoration,  or  imagine  that  his  friend  Josephine 
(in  possession  of  his  state  secret  if  not,  indeed 
his  partner  in  it)  would  be  seated  on  a  throne  as 
empress  of  half  of  Europe.     (Latimer  do.) 

The  Figaro  from  which  most  of  this  account  is 

126 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

copied  gives  a  whole  column  to  the  names  of  per- 
sons who  have  testified  to  some  knowledge  of  the 
substitution  of  other  children  for  Louis  XVII, 
and  of  his  being  spirited  away  from  the  Temple. 
Among  these  names  is  that  of  a  Marquise  de  Bro- 
glie-Solari,  attached  to  the  household  of  Marie 
Antoinette,  and  to  that  of  the  Princesss  de  Lam- 
balle.  This  lad}^  testified  that  she  heard  it  in 
1803  from  Barras,  and  in  1819  and  1820  from 
Queen  Hortense,  the  daughter  of  Josephine. 

There  is  reason  to  think  that  Josephine 
knew  the  story  and  believed  it.  Of  late  years 
papers  have  been  written  to  attribute  her  sudden 
and  somewhat  mysterious  death  to  that  incon- 
venient knowledge.  The  Comtesse  d'  Adhemar, 
ex-dame  du  j^alais  of  Marie  Antoinette,  wrote: 
"Assuredly  I  do  not  wish  to  multiply  the  chances 
of  imposters,  but  in  writing  this  in  the  month  of 
May,  1799,  I  certify  on  my  soul  and  conscience, 
that  I  am  positively  certain  that  Sa  Majeste 
Louis  XVII  did  not  die  in  the  Temple."  The 
Duchesse  d'  Augouleme  was  never  convinced  of 
her  brothers  death,  though  she  was  obliged,  from 
motives  of  policy,  to  acquiesce  in  the  view  taken 
by  the  male  members  of  her  family.  The  Vicomte 
de  Rochejacquelin  wrote  to  her  on  the  subject: 
"Though  we  may  believe  that  the  unhappy  child 
was  withdrawn  from  the  cruelt}"  of  his  persecut- 
ors, and  that,  to  save  his  life,  he  was  obliged  to 
live  in  obscurity,  such  a  lifewould  make  him  little 

127 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 


suitable  to  be  recog-nized  as  heir  to  the  French 
monarchy;  and,  in  short,  in  the  condition  of 
Europe,  it  is  quite  conceivable  that  it  would  have 
been  useless  to  bring  forward  Louis  XVII,  and 
that  bis  death,  and  the  death  of  those  that  sup- 
ported him  would  have  been  the  consequence." 

It  is  said  that  to  the  Treaty  of  1814  between 
France  and  the|allies,  which  restored  Louis  XVIII 
to  the  throne;  there  was  this  secret  article: 
"That  although  the  high  contracting  powers,  the 
allied  sovereigns,  have  no  certain  evidence  of  the 
death  of  the  son  of  Louis  XVI,  the  state  of 
Europe  require  that  they  should  place  at  the  head 
of  the  government  of  France,  Louis  Xavier, 
Comte  de  Provence  etc.,"  and  also  this  added: 

"The  contracting  parties  reserve  their  liberty 
to  assist  in  mounting  on  the  French  throne  him 
w^ho  they  may  conceive  has  the  more  legitimate 
right  toit. " 

It  is  certain  that  Josephine  said  to  the  Emperor 
Alexander,  "You  may  re-establish  royalty,  but 
you  will  not  re-establish  legitimacy. "  A  peer  of 
France  has  recorded  in  his  souvenirs  that  in  April 
1814,  one  month  before  the  death  of  the  Empress 
Josephine  he  had  seen  documents  "which  con- 
tained secrets  calculated  to  upset  European 
diplomacy,  if  they  ever  came  to  light."  He 
implored  Josephine  to  destroy  them.  "No,"  she 
said;  "my  resolution  is  fixed.  I  shall  communi- 
cate these  papers  to  the  Emperor  Alexander.    He 

128 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

is  just,  I  know,  and  will  wish  that  everything' 
should  be  put  in  its  right  place.  He  will  look 
after  the  interests  of  an  unfortunate  young  man." 
"I  made  no  further  objections,"  added  the  narra- 
tor. "Josephine  acted  as  she  thought  best,  and 
told  what  it  had  been  better  for  her  to  have  kept 
secret.  Her  sudden  death,  a  week  later,  took  an 
important  witness  out  of  the  way," 

It  may  be  added  that  on  the  very  night  of  her 
death,  which  the  three  physicians  who  attended 
her  attributed  to  poison,  all  her  papers,  on  a 
frivolous  pretext,  were  seized  by  the  police,  and 
the  larger  part  of  them  were  never  restored. 

As  soon  as  the  empress  was  dead,  it  was  rumored 
in  Paris  that  she  had  known  the  circumstances 
of  the  Dauphin's  disappearance  from  the  Temple; 
that  she  had  even  had  a  hand  in  it;  and  that  in 
a  secret  interview  with  the  Emperor  Alexander  it 
had  been  agreed  between  them  that  the  affairs  of 
France  should  be  provisionally  settled  until  Louis 
XVII  should  be  discovered,  when  the  Emperer 
Alexander  "reserved  to  himself  the  right"  to  do 
him  the  justice  that  was  legitimately  his  due. 
With  this  the  secret  clause  in  the  Treaty  of  1814, 
already  quoted,  would  seem  to  agree.  (Latimer 
do.)  Louis  Blanc  says:  "After  the  Restoration, 
which  placed  Louis  XVIII  on  the  throne,  the 
recovery  of  Louis  XVII  would  have  caused  incal- 
culable embarrassments.  This  being  the  case,  a 
government  by  no  means  scrupulous  could  very 

129 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

easily  overlook  family  considerations,  in  virtue 
of  reasons  of  state,  whether  it  knew  the  truth, 
or  i)referred  to  ig-nore  it. " 

The  most  remarkable  proof  that  Louis  XVIII 
did  not  believe  in  his  nephew's  death  was,  that 
when  he  raised  the  Chapelle  Expiatoire  to  the 
memory  of  Louis  XVI  and  Marie  Antoinette,  he 
took  no  notice  of  the  death  of  Louis  XVII.  But 
the  Duchesse  d'  Angouleme  seems  always  to  have 
had  it  in  her  heart  that  she  might  recover  traces 
of  her  lost  brother.  Not  that  it  would  have  been 
in  her  powder  to  do  anj^thing  to  restore  him  to  his 
position;  and  her  acknowledgment  of  the  rights 
would  have  destroyed  those  of  her  husband,  her 
father-in-law,  her  uncle,  and  her  great-nephew, 
the  Due  de  Bordeaux.  On  leaving  the  Temple  in 
1796,  the  princess  wrote  to  her  uncle,  speaking  of 
the  Jacobins,  "They  have  compassed  the  deaths 
of  my  father,  and  my  mother,  and  my  aunt."  She 
does  not  mention  her  brother.  Again  in  1801, 
when  General  d'  Andigne  had  discovered  the  little 
skeleton  in  the  Temple  garden,  and  was  anxious 
to  speak  of  it  to  the  Duchesse  d'  Angoulerhe,  he 
was  not  permitted  to  have  an  interview  with  her. 
She  told  Comte  de  Feys  when  search  was  being 
made  for  the  Dauphin's  body  in  the  cemetery  of 
Ste.  Marguerite,  "that  from  the  first  she  had  not 
been  sure  of  her  brother's  death  in  the  Temple, 
but  that  she  at  last  knew  what  had  become  of 
him. "     There  was  not  only  no  monument  erected 

130 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

to  Louis  XVII  in  the  Chapelle  Expiatoire,  but  a 
funeral  service  to  his  memor}^  that  was  to  have 
taken  place  at  St.  Denis,  was  never  had.  The 
Bishop  of  Moulins  has  told  us  that  his  father  (at 
the  time  Grand  Master  of  Ceremonies),  having- 
asked  Louis  XVIII,  the  reason,  received  this  ans- 
wer: "We  do  not  feel  sure  of  the  death  of  my 
nephew."  There  was  a  superstition  among-  the 
French  clerg}^  that  all  the  misfortunes  that  fell 
fast  on  the  Royal  Bourbons  after  their  restora- 
tion were  a  judgment  upon  them  for  the  non- 
recognition  of  Louis  XVII.  The  Secretary-Gen- 
eral of  the  Diocese  of  Strasburg  said  that  the  cer- 
tainty Monsignor  Tarin  had  of  the  existence  of 
Louis  XVII  led  him  to  give  up  his  position  as 
tutor  to  the  Due  de  Bordeaux.  "Monsignor," 
said  the  Marquis  de  Nicolai,  one  day  to  him,  "the 
royal  family  believes  as  much  as  you  or  I  do  that 
Louis  XVII  is  still  living-."     (Latimer  do.) 

The  necessity  that  the  Bourbons  on  their  restor- 
ation should  maintain  the  truth  of  the  death  of 
the  little  King-  was  forcibly  set  forth  by  a  Russian 
named  Van  Rochow,  on  the  first  attempt  made  by 
Naundorff  to  establish  his  identity  with  Louis 
XVn.  "If  this  young  man  be  the  Dauphin  of 
France, "  he  said,  "he  cannot  be  acknowledged  as 
such,  because  that  acknowledgment  would  be  to 
the  dishonor  of  all  the  monarchies  of  Europe." 

In  January,  1816,  a  law  was  passed  in  both 
Chambers,  to  erect  a  monument  at  public  expense 

131 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

to  Louis  XVII,  and  the  King  issued  a  royal  ordi- 
nance to  have  the  monument  erected  in  the  church 
of  the  Medeleine  and  directed  Lemot  a  parisian 
sculptor  to  execute  it.  But  it  was  never  erected. 
The  epitaph  furnished  for  the  monument  remains 
uncut  on  the  marble.  The  minister  of  police, 
issued  an  order  to  place  the  remains  in  St.  Denis. 
A  report  was  made  locating-  the  grave  in  one  of 
two  lots  at  the  cemetery.  But  no  exhumation 
was  attempted.  Orders  were  also  issued  to  have 
the  heart  placed  in  the  coffin,  but  this  was  never 
accomplished. 

IX.      THE   UNCLAIMED   HEART. 

The  heart  of  the  boy  who  did  die  in  the  temple 
had  a  romantic  career.  Pelletan  secreted  it  in  a 
handkerchief,  arrived  at  home  he  placed  it  in  a 
bottle  of  spirits.  A  student  abstracted  it,  but 
after  confessing  it  was  restored.  The  Duchess  of 
Augouleme  after  the  Restoration  visited  the 
hotel  Dieu  hospital  to  question  Pelletan  about  it, 
for  Chateaubraind  had  spoken  of  it  in  the  Cham- 
ber of  Peers.  The  hundred  days  intervened,  and 
two  years  later  Pelletan  had  hopes  of  some  recog- 
nition for  its  restitution,  as  inquiry  was  begun, 
but  neither  Louis  XVIII  nor  Charles  X  dis- 
played any  inclination  to  weep  over  that  stray 
heart,  or  accept  it.  It  is  said  Lasne  informed  the 
King  Louis  XVIII  that  he  was  present  and  Pelle- 
tan did  not  take  the  heart.     It  was  in  charge  of 

132 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

the  archbishop  of  Paris,  until  his  palace  was 
sacked  by  the  mob  in  1831,  whenitVas  found  in  a 
cupboard  and  sent  to  Pelletan's  son.  From  1879 
it  was  possessed  by  Prosper  Deschamps,  heir  of 
Dr.  Pelletan,  son  of  the  Pelletan  who  abstracted 
it.  Comte  de  Chambord  would  not  notice  offers 
of  it  made  to  him,  but  in  1895,  a  century  after  be- 
ing abstracted,  it  was  accejDted  by  Don  Carlos, 
and  found  a  burial  at  last  in  the  tomb  of  Comte 
de  Chambord,  who  died  1883. 


$: 


fr 


133 


XI 

FLIGHT   OF   THE   LITTLE   KING   TO   AMERICA 


M' 


'ADAM  Campan  had  been  all  her  life  a  close 
intimate  of  the  Royal  family  up  to  the 
moment  she  was  refused  permission  to  go 
with  them  into  the  Temple,  and  knew  everyone 
in  France  who  was  any  body.  Her  brother  M. 
Genet  had  early  esjioused  the  republican  cause, 
though  not  to  the  disfavor  of  his  sister  with  the 
King-  or  Queen,  and  had  been  many  years  in  the 
diplomatic  service,  to  different  European  coun- 
tries under  the  King  and  under  the  Revolution, 
and  had  been  Ambassador  of  France  to  the  United 
States.  He  was  therefore  in  a  position  to  have 
heard  the  whisperings  disclosing  the  hiding  place 
of  the  little  King.  He  was  to  bring  both  the 
royal  children  to  America  when  he  came  as 
Ambassador.  A  carriage  with  a  false  back  to 
conceal  them  had  been  made,  but  was  seized  and 
broken  by  the  mob. 

In  the  year  1818  there  was  a  dinner  party  at 
the  house  of  Dr.  Hosack,  in  New  York  City,  at 
which  were  present  as  guests  M.  Genet,  the  ex- 
ambassador;  the  Comte  Jean  d'  Angeley;  Dr. 
John  W.  Francis;  Dr.  Macneven;  Counsellor  Simp- 
son; Thomas  Cooper  of  Carlisle.  Of  these  Dr. 
Francis  alone  survived  when  he  gave  this  infor- 

134 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

mation  which  was  published  in  1853  by  Rev.  Dr. 
Hanson.  The  conversation  included  the  subject 
of  the  little  King-  and  his  disappearance.  Then 
Genet  said:  "Gentlemen,  the  Dauphin  of  France 
is  not  dead,  but  was  brought  to  America."  There 
was  much  conversation  on  the  same  subject,  dur- 
ing which  M.  Genet  informed  the  company  among 
other  things,  that  he  believed  the  Dauphin  was  in 
western  New  York,  and  that  Le  Rayde  Chaumont 
knew  all  about  it.  In  1795  or  1796  this  French 
gentleman,  arrived  from  France  and  settled  in  St. 
Lawrence  County,  in  northern  New  York,  where 
he  lived  in  affluence,  and  was  intimate  with  the 
Indians  of  St.  Regis  and  Hogansburg,  where  the 
Mohawks  of  the  Iroquoi  nation  were  living  at 
their  reservation  and  mission. 

There  gathers  about  the  name  of  Belanger, 
Bellenger,  Bellanger,  or  Boulanger,  as  variously 
spelled,  through  the  years  of  mystification  which 
cover  the  retreating  steps  of  the  little  King,  a 
peculiar  fascination  which  is  becoming  quite  as 
positive  history  as  much  that  passes  for  that  sin- 
gular name  for  misinformation.  Mary  Hartwell 
Catherwood  in  that  interesting  fiction  "Lazarre" 
which  purports  to  be  founded  on  the  story  of  the 
lost  little  King,  has  made  much  of  this  Bellenger, 
who  she  keeps  at  the  front  in  many  a  ficticious 
adventure  with  the  little  King-  in  Europe  and 
America.  Mrs.  Catherwood  implies  that  she  be- 
lieves King  Louis  XVIII  was  concerned  to  retain 

135 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

the  little  King  in  obscurity.  In  the  well  written 
iind  well  played  drama  of  "Lazarre"  by  its  play- 
wrig-ht  and  actor,  Otis  Skinner,  this  character  of 
Bellenger  also  acts  an  important  part.  While 
for  the  most  part  the  story  of  Belleng-er  as  pic- 
tured in  both  the  book  and  the  play  is  pure  fiction, 
there  is  historical  evidence  that  Belleng-er  was 
associated  in  those  dark  Temple  days  with  the 
little  King-  and  some  ground  to  believe  that  he 
was  the  one  who  brought  the  little  King  to 
America.  This  Bellenger  was  a  character  in  the 
Revolution  and  a  member  of  the  Jacobin  Club, 
which  was  among  the  worst  of  the  Revolutionary 
societies  of  France.  Bellenger  had  been  a  lieu- 
tenant under  Rosin  the  butcher  of  the  Vendee. 
When  Robespierre  was  denounced  on  the  9th 
Thermidore  (July  27,  1794),  at  the  same  time 
Billaud  Varennes  arose  in  the  Convention,  and 
exclaimed:  "I  demand  that  Dumas  be  arrested  as 
well  as  Boulanger;  he  was  the  most  ardent  j^ester 
night  at  the  Jacobins."  While  many  were  ar- 
rested and  executed  with  the  infamous  Robes- 
pierre, Bellenger  went  unmolested,  but  whether 
due  to  friendship  of  Barras  we  do  not  know. 
That  he  was  a  person  of  means,  having  landed 
estates  is  shown  by  the  following  record:  "Belan- 
ger  an  architect  and  landscape  gardener,  com- 
plained that  a  house  which  he  had  let  out  in  flats 
was  seized  upon  by  the  place  Vendome  section, 
which   turned    out   the   occupants    and   crowded 

136 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

sixty-three  Eng-lish  into  it  as  a  house  of  deten- 
tion. He  was  threatened  that  if  he  remonstrated 
he  would  himself  be  arrested."  (J.  G.  Alger, 
'  'Paris  1789-1794. ' ')  Formerly  this  Bellenger  had 
been  an  artist  and  desig^ner,  trusted  by  King 
Louis  XVIII  when  he  was  the  Comte  de  Provence; 
and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Hanson  who  wrote  the  "Lost 
Prince,"  supjiosed  it  was  by  his  efforts  under  the 
pay  of  the  Comte  de  Provence  then  in  exile,  that 
Bellenger  secured  the  release  and  flight  of  the 
little  King.  Under  whose  patronage  we  do  not 
know,  but  it  is  certain  that  Bellenger  was  ap- 
pointed between  May  31st  to  June  5th,  1795,  as 
Commissary  at  the  Temple.  The  only  prisoners 
there  then,  being  the  boy  substituted  for  the 
King,  and  Madam  Royal.  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Worm- 
le}^  Latimer  in,  "My  Scrap  Book  of  the  French 
Revolution"  says:  "The  idea  of  Rev.  Hanson  is 
that  the  substitution  of  the  child  who  died  of 
scrofula  took  place  between  May  31,  1795  and 
June  5,  four  days,  when  no  one  saw  the  boy  but 
Laurent,  Lasne,  Gomin  and  Bellenger,  who  had 
just  been  appointed  Commissionary  at  the  Tem- 
l^le.  I  may  here  remark  that  neither  Eleazer  Wil- 
liams nor  Rev.  Hanson  had  ever  heard  the  name  of 
Bellenger  in  connection  with  the  prisoner  in  the 
Temple,  until  after  his  confession  on  his  death- 
bed at  Batan  Rouge,  Louisiana."  The  following 
description  of  Bellengers'  coming  to  the  Temple 
is  from  Beauchesne  of  1852:  "On  the  11th  Prairial 

137 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

(30th  May),  le  Sieur  Brieullard,  the  acting-  com- 
missary for  the  day,  who  accompanied  Desault, 
said  to  him  in  going  down  the  staircase:  'The  child 
will  die,  will  he  not?'  'I  fear  it;  but  there  are, 
perhaps,  those  persons  in  the  world  who  hope  he 
will,"  replied  Desault,  the  last  words  which  he 
pronounced  in  the  tower  of  the  Temple,  and 
which,  though  spoken  in  a  low  voice,  were  heard 
by  Gomin,  who  walked  behind  Brieullard. 

"On  the  12th  Prairial  (31st  May),  the  acting 
commissary,  on  his  arrival  at  nine  o'clock,  said 
he  would  wait  for  the  doctor  in  the  chamber  of 
the  child,  to  which  he  caused  himself  to  be  intro- 
duced. This  commissary  was  M.  Bellanger, 
painter  and  designer  of  the  cabinet  of  Monsieur, 
(the  Comte  de  Provence,  afterwards  Louis  XVIII) , 
who  lived  at  No.  21  Rue  Poissonniere.  He  was 
an  honest  man:  the  misfortune  of  his  benefactor, 
alas,  in  these  sad  times,  almost  an  exception, 
had  not  dried  up  the  devotion  of  his  heart.  M. 
Desault  did  not  come.  M.  Bellanger,  who  had 
brought  a  portfolio  filled  with  his  drawings, 
asked  the  Prince  if  he  liked  painting;  and,  with- 
out waiting  for  an  answer,  which  did  not  come, 
the  artist  opened  his  portfolio-  and  put  it  under 
the  eyes  of  the  child.  He  turned  it  over,  at  first 
with  indifference,  afterwards  with  interest,  dwelt 
a  long  time  on  each  page,  and  when  he  had  fin- 
ished, began  again.  This  long  examination 
seemed  to  give  some  solace  to  his  sufferings  and 

138 


/ 


\. 


4      ^ 


^^-^ 


'  f 


H 


■a 


^    r 


Eleazer  Williams,  i8o6 

Vac  simile  of  pencil  sketch  by  Chevalier  Fagnani  from  original  portrait  by 
J.  Stewart  of  Hartford  in  1806— (from  lost  Prince.) 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

some  relief  to  the  chagrin  which  was  caused  by 
the  absence  of  his  physician.  The  artist  often 
gave  him  explanation  of  the  different  subjects  of 
his  collection.  The  child  had  at  "first  kept  silence 
but,  little  by  little,  he  listened  to  M.  Bellanjj-er 
with  marked  attention,  and  finished  by  answer- 
ing his  questions. 

"In  taking-  the  portfolio  from  his  hands,  M. 
Bellanger  said  to  him,  'I  much  desire,  sir,  to  take 
away  one  drawing  more,  but  I  will  not  do  it  if 
you  object.' 

'What  drawing?'  said  the  Dauphin.  'That  of 
your  countenance;  it  will  give  much  pleasure,  if 
it  will  not  cause  you  pain.'  'Will  it  give  you 
pleasure?'  said  the  child,  and  the  most  gracious 
smile  completed;his  sentence  and  the  mute  appro- 
bation which  he  gave  to  the  desire  of  the  artist. 
M.  Bellanger  traced  in  crayon  the  profile  of  the 
young  king,  and  it  is  from  this  profile,  that  some 
days  later,  M.  Beaumont,  the  sculptor,  and 
twenty  years  after,  manufacturer  of  Sevres  i^or- 
celain,  executed  the  bust  of  Louis  XVII." 

Eleazer  Williams  was  the  name  under  which 
the  little  King  was  known  in  the  United  States. 
He  was  known  among  the  Indians  of  Caughna- 
waga  and  St.  Regis  as  Lazare,  which  in  some 
erroneous  manner  has  been  changed  to.  Eleazer. 
In  the  great  mass  of  literature  on  the  subject  he 
is  styled  the  Lost  Dauphin,  which  is  an  historical 
error  we  cannot  explain,  as  he  was  King  Louis 

139 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

XVII,  after  the  murder  of  the  King  his  father, 
and  so  styled  by  his  friends  and  called  the  little 
King.  While  relating  in  1851  to  Rev.  Hanson  the 
evidence  of  his  descent  from  the  Bourbons,  Rev. 
Eleazer  Williams  said  of  this  Bellenger  whose 
name  Rev.  Hanson  spells  Belanger,  that:  "A 
French  man  died  at  New  Orleans  in  1848,  named 
Belanger,  who  confessed  on  his  death  bed  that 
he  was  the  person  who  brought  the  Dauphin  to 
this  country,  and  placed  him  among  the  Indians, 
in  the  northern  part  of  the  state  of  New  York.  It 
seems  that  Belanger  had  taken  a  solemn  oath  of 
secrecy,  alike  for  the  preservation  of  the  Dau- 
phin, and  the  safety  of  those  who  were  instru- 
mental in  effecting  his  escape,  but  the  near 
approach  of  death,  and  the  altered  circumstances 
of  the  times,  induced  him  to  break  silence  before 
his  departure  from  the  world.  He  died  in  Janu- 
ary, 1848.  Now  the  person  who  had  charge  of 
the  Dauphin  after  the  death  of  Simon,  stabbed  a 
man  in  a  political  quarrel  in  France,  and  fled  for 
safety.  He  it  was  I  suppose  who,  with  the 
assistance  and  connivance  of  others,  carried  the 
youth  with  him  to  the  low  countries,  and  thence 
to  England.  He  must  have  changed  his  own 
name  for  greater  security,  crossed  the  Atlantic, 
and  after  depositing  him  with  the  Indians,  gone 
to  Louisiana  and  there  lived  and  died.  "  The  let- 
ter referred  to  was,  as  Rev.  Eleazer  Williams 
says  received  by  him  from  Mr.  Thomas  Kimball 

140 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

dated  at  Baton  Rouge,  and  he  told  Rev.  Hanson 
in  the  presence  of  Dr.  Hawks  the  eloquent 
preacher  and  historian  in  Dr.  Hawks'  study  in 
New  York,  in  1852,  that:  "Mr.  Kimball's  letter 
is  I  think  among-  my  papers  at  Green  Bay;"  Rev. 
Eleazer  Williams  has  never  produced  this  letter, 
which  leaves  the  statement  dependent  on  his  ver- 
acity which  many  have  questioned,  yet  not  suc- 
cessfully in  this  particular  at  least.  This  letter 
is  said  to  have  been  a  fiction  of  Colonel  Henry  E. 
Eastman  of  Green  Bay,  who  was  in  1845  the 
agent  of  Amos  A.  Lawrence,  the  wealthy  Boston 
business  man  in  negotiating  as  to  the  interest 
Lawrence  had  acquired  in  the  landed  estate  of 
Rev.  Eleazer  Williams.  He  claimed  to  have 
written  a  romance  based  on  Louis  XVII  and  to 
have  made  Eleazer  Williams  the  chief  character, 
gave  him  the  manuscript  to  read,  and  he  having 
copied  them  returned  them  to  Colonel  Eastman. 
The  story  of  the  death-bed  confession  of  Bellen- 
ger,  Eastman  says  was  his  own  fiction  included 
in  the  story  as  exhibited  to  Eleazer  Williams. 
Colonel  Eastman  assumes  to  be  amazed  when  he 
saw  his  fiction  repeated  in  "Putnams  Magazine" 
in  1853,  in  connection  with  the  article,  "Have  we 
a  Bourbon  among  us,"  by  Rev.  Dr.  John  Hanson. 
Mr.  Eastman  says  he  wrote  the  story  in  1847  or 
1848  at  Green  Bay.  Rev.  Hanson  went  to  New 
Orleans  but  could  find  no  trace  of  Bellenger.  As 
the  information  connecting  Bellenger  in  any  way 

141 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

with  the  Temple  was  not  a  matter  of  g"eneral 
information  until  after  1852,  when  M.  Beauchesne 
published  his  two  volumes  and  the  Figaro  dis- 
closures in  1895,  it  was  impossible  that  Eastman 
could  have  hit  upon  the  name. 

"In  the  fall  of  1841,  quite  an  excitement  was 
raised  in  our  quiet  town  by  the  visit  of  the  Prince 
de  Joinville.  Prom  that  time  beg"an  the  question 
of  Rev.  Eleazer  Williams  being-  the  lost  Prince," 
says  Mrs.  Mary  Irvin  Mitchell.  This  was  seven 
years  before  Eastman  claims  to  have  invented  the 
story.  Mr.  W.  W.  Wight's  paper  proves  the  East- 
man claim  to  discovering  Eleazer  Williams  to  be 
the  Lost  Dauphin,  as  an  evident  desire  to  break 
into  the  sensation.  Putnam  of  1853,  contained: 
"The  startling  discovery  of  the  mislaid  Daujihin 
in  my  own  language;"  says  Colonel  Eastman, 
"the  original  story  of  the  'Lost  Prince'  was  my 
story,"  composed  about  the  summer  ^of  1847,  or 
the  following  winter  of  1848.  This  is  disproved 
by  Mr.  Wight  who  says:  "Just  about  1838  Eleazer 
entered  the  office  of  Geo.  H.  Haskins,  editor  of 
the  Buffalo  Express,  and  confided  to  him  under 
seal  of  the  most  profound  secrecy  that  he,  Eleazer 
was  not  what  he  appeared  to  be,  but  was  in  real- 
ity the  Dauphin  of  France."  This  was  ten  years 
before  Eastman  claimed  he  "was  the  originator 
of  the  idea  and  story  of  Williams  being  the  Lost 
Prince."  Rev.  Dr.  Lathrop  writes,  says  Lyman 
C.  Draper,  "that  Mr.  Williams  gave  him  both  in 

142 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

1843  and  18-48,  an  accountof  the  interview  with 
the  Prince  de  Joinville;"  and  the  William's  jour- 
nal records  the  interview  in  1841,  all  of  which  dis- 
credited the  presumption  of  Colonel  Eastman  to 
the  authorship  of  the  Williams  Dauphinship. 
After  the  appearance  of  "Putnam"  with  Dr.  Han- 
son's paper  in  1853,  the  subject  attracted  wide 
spread  attention  and  added  twenty  thousand  new 
subscribers  to  the  magazine.  Mrs.  Brown  living- 
in  New  Orleans  in  1854,  but  who  had  not  seen  the 
article,  was  visited  by  Dr.  Hanson  and  voluntar- 
ily testified  under  oath  that  she  had  been  wife  to 
the  secretary  of  the  Comte  de  Artois,  and  had 
resided  at  Holyrood,  from  1804  to  1810;  that  she 
was  admitted  to  some  intimacy  by  the  Duchesse 
d'  Aug-ouleme,  sister  of  the  little  King,  who  once 
told  her  that  she  knew  the  baby  King-  was  alive 
and  in  America;  that  she  heard  of  Bellenger  as 
the  man  who  brought  him  over;  and  the  name  of 
Williams  was  mentioned  in  that  connection.  She 
added  that  while  the  royal  family  knew  the  baby 
King  was  alive,  they  asserted  he  w^as  incompe- 
tent to  reign.  The  wife  to  the  secretary  of  the 
Comte  de  Coigny  had  told  Mrs.  Brown  that  she 
had  heard  Bellenger  had  brought  the  King  to 
America;  that  the  subject  had  been  much  dis- 
cussed in  the  royal  palace,  where  it  was  said  the 
elevation  of  such  a  person  to  the  throne  would 
but  increase  the  disorder  of  the  times,  and  that 
one  who  came  from  America  to  confer  with  the 

14.3 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

family  on  the  subject,  had  been  given  money  and 
he  returned. 

As  to  the  Rev.  Eleazer  Williams  being  of 
French  descent,  brought  to  America  and  depos- 
ited among  the  Indians  at  Lake  George:  One 
John  O'Brien,  a  half  breed  Indian,  made  an  affi- 
davit in  1853,  that  he  was  born  about  1752  at 
Stockbridge;  his  father  was  an  Irishman,  and  his 
mother  an  Oneida.  In  1764  he  was  sent  to  Prance 
to  be  educated,  where  he  remained  until  in  the 
Revolution  returning  with  Lafayette,  and  went 
among  the  Oneidas.  In  1795,  while  at  Ticonde- 
roga  on  Lake  George,  there  came  two  French- 
men, with  whom  he  conversed  in  their  language, 
who  had  with  them  a  silly  French  boy  about  ten 
or  twelve  years  of  age.  After  the  Frenchmen 
departed  O'Brien  saw  this  boy  in  the  family  of 
Thomas  Williams,  an  Indian  where  the  child  lived. 
He  was  at  Lake  George  sometime  after,  when  this 
boy  playing  with  the  children  at  the  southwest 
end  of  the  lake  near  the  old  Fort,  either  jumped 
or  fell  into  the  lake,  and  was  taken  out  wounded, 
and  carried  to  the  hut  of  Thomas  Williams. '  He 
saw  the  boy  after  this  from  time  to  time  and  he  is 
the  same  now  known  as  Eleazer  Williams. 


144 


XII. 


ELEAZER   WILLIAMS 


HOWEVER  descended,  Eleazer  Williams  had 
a  most  remarkable  and  distinguished  an- 
cestry, as  he  was  himself  a  remarkable 
and  'distinguished  character.  The  story  of  his 
birth  as  told  by  friend  or  enem}^  is  equally  as  his- 
torically noble.  Every  possible  genealogy  yet 
made  up  for  him  traces  him  back  to  kings  and 
queens,  who  have  made  history  in  every  stage  of 
the  world's  progress  for  over  a  thousand  years. 

Whether  Creole  or  Bourbon,  his  veins  ran  noble 
blood.  In  either  descent  he  can  trace  a  relation- 
ship to  King  Henry  VIII,  Queen  Elizabeth  of  Eng- 
land and  Oliver  Cromwell,  or  a  direct  descent 
from  Maria  Theresa  of  Austria,  and  St.  Louis  or 
Henry  of  Navarre.  In  his  veins  ran  the  blood  of 
either  Bourbon,  Hapsburg  or  Tudor.  His  birth  is 
not  a  mystery,  in  that  his  origin  is  unknown.  It 
is  known  to  be  either  one  or  the  other  of  these 
noble  lines.  His  worst  enemy  will  admit  and 
prove  his  descent  from  the  most  distinguished 
ancestry.  His  friends  also.  His  enemies  only 
claim  he  is  not  the  Lost  King  Louis  XVII,  of 
France;  to  prove  which  they  show  a  genealogy 
ranging  back  in  the  days  of  the  earliest  kings  of 
Britain,  even   eleven  hundred   years  before  the 

145 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

christian  era,  Avhose  descendants  came  with  the 
early  wave  of  Puritans  to  Roxbury,  Mass.,  in 
1637,  in  the  person  of  Robert  Williams,  the  grand- 
father of  Rev.  John  Williams  of  Deerfield,  who 
became  the  great  grandfather  of  Eleazer  Williams. 

One  writer  has  said  that  "The  history  of  this 
Williams  family  in  America  embraces  a  consider- 
able portion  of  the  history  of  New  England,  if 
not  of  the  history  of  the  United  States." 

Robert's  son,  Samuel,  had  a  son  Rev.  John 
Williams,  who  with  his  family  were  all  killed  or 
taken  prisoners  at  the  Deerfield  massacre.  All 
who  survived  their  capiivity  returned  except 
Eunice.  When  taken  captive  she  was  but  eig-ht 
years  old,  but  preferred  to  remain  with  her  Mo- 
hawk captors,  and  married  one  of  these  savages. 
Their  home  was  at  Caughnawaga,  ten  miles  above 
Montreal  on  the  St.  Lawrence  river,  north  of  New 
York  State.  Her  savage  husband's  name  was 
Amrusus.  Their  daughter  Sarah,  was  married  to 
an  Indian,  whose  son  Tehoragwanegen,  alias 
Thomas  Williams,  it  is  claimed  was  the  father  of 
Eleazer  Williams.  In  his  younger  days  he  did 
live  with  this  Indian,  and  supposed  him  to  be  his 
father. 

Eunice  Williams  was  descended  from  four  puri- 
tan ministers,  and  her  two  brothers  were  likewise 
ministers.  I  believe  that  it  has  been  stated  that 
Robert  Williams  of  Roxbury,  was  the  ancester  of 
twenty-three  ministers  of  the  gospel,  not  includ- 

146 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

ing-  Eleazer  Williams,  though  in  his  life  long  de- 
votion to  his  savage  wards  as  missionary  and 
teacher,  and  the  conversion  of  one  whole  tribe, 
he  certainly  has  as  much  to  his  credit  in  the  book 
of  good  deeds  as  mau}^  other  men,  whose  lot  has 
been  cast  in  happier  times  and  more  pleasant 
fields. 

Therefore  if  it  is  true  that  Rev.  Eleazer  Wil- 
liams the  missionary  to  the  Oneida,  had  a  Mo- 
hawk mother  and  father,  and  grandmother  and 
grandfather  and  great  grandfather,  whose  wife 
was  Eunice  Williams,  he  had  less  white  blood 
than  his  life  and  features  would  indicate,  and  yet 
enough  to  make  him  the  descendant  of  most  illus- 
trious ancestr5\  The  reputed  Indian  father  and 
mother  of  Eleazer  Williams,  resided  at  Sault  St. 
Louis  in  Canada,  on  the  St.  Lawrence  river,  ten 
miles  above  Montreal.  He  died  there  in  his  nine- 
tieth year,  September  10,  1848,  having  resided 
after  the  war  of  1812  a  number  of  years  at  St. 
Regis  Indian  Reservation  in  New  York.  The 
wife  of  Thomas  Williams  was  Mary  Ann  Rice. 
They  were  married  January  7,  1779.  She  died 
May  1.  1856,  seventy-seven  years  after  her  mar- 
riage, and  nearly  a  centenarian.  They  were  both 
ardent  Catholics.  They  were  both  apparently 
full  blooded  Indians,  and  spoke  no  language  but 
Mohawk. 

The  settlement  which  the  French  called  Sault 
St.  Louis  but  in  Iroquois,  is  Caughnavvaga,  situ- 

147 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

ated  ten  miles  above  Montreal,  on  the  south  side 
of  the  St.  Lawrence.  The  inhabitants  were  mostly 
Mohawks  with  a  few  Oneidas,  who  had  been  con- 
verted by  Jesuit  missionaries  to  Catholicism  and 
to  the  French  interest,  and  had  been  induced  from 
time  to  time  to  abandon  their  ancient  seats  in 
New  York  for  homes  near  Montreal,  where  they 
would  be  under  the  wing-  of  the  Church.  Thus 
dwelling  they  served  both  as  a  bulwark  against 
the  English,  and  as  allies  of  the  French  in  war 
and  in  marauding,  while  they  enriched  themselves 
by  lucrative  contraband  trade  between  the  lower 
Hudson  and  the  St.  Lawrence.  At  about  the  per- 
iod of  the  Deerfield  massacre,  (1704)  two-thirds  of 
the  New  York  Mohawks  had  gone  to  Caughna- 
waga;  so  that  about  three  hundred  and  fifty  pray- 
ing Indians  were  then  living  there.  In  1750  the 
entire  population  may  have  been  one  thousand 
souls.  But  notwithstanding  the  religious  influ- 
ences, these  mission  Indians  still  continued  sav- 
ages. "Although  baptized,  and  wearing  the  cru- 
cifix, they  yet  hung  their  wigwams  with  scalps, 
yet  wielded  their  tomahawks  against  feeble 
women  and  innocent  children."  "Remnants  of 
the  Caughnawaga  mission  still  exists  and  travel- 
ers down  the  St.  Lawrence  peer  curiously  at 
naked  pappooses  sporting  about  the  shore  and  at 
tawny  braves  stalking  aimlessly  under  the  arch- 
ing trees." 

It  had  two,  long,  narrow  streets  separating  low, 

148 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

ding-y  frame  or  losf  huts,  and  a  few  of  rude,  dark 
stone  masonry.  A  Roman  Catholic  stone  church 
stands  in  the  middle  of  the  street.  It  was  a 
lonely  place  with  its  shabby  huts,  dirty  streets, 
crowds  of  naked  little  Indian  children.  Such  is 
the  reputed  place  of  birth  of  Eleazer  Williams,  to 
those  who  do  not  believe  he  was  the  Lost  King-. 
But  it  is  as  easy  or  as  difficult  to  prove  one  as  the 
other.  His  reputed  father  was  a  Mohawk  brave, 
and  chief  who  could  speak  only  their  lang^uage, 
and  conversed  with  the  whites  throug-h  an  inter- 
preter. He  lived  the  roving-  life  of  the  Indian  in 
the  wig-wam,  or  rolled  in  his  blanket,  he  slept  on 
the  side  hills  along-  the  banks  of  Lake  Georg-e. 
His  reputed  mother  was  a  squaw,  who  could  not 
speak  a  word  of  any  lang-uag-e  but  Mohawk. 
Their  parents  had  been  Mohawk  bucks  and 
squaws  before  them,  and  the  g-randfather  of  this 
Thomas  was  a  Mohawk  buck.  If  descended 
throug-h  this  uncertain  unrecorded  g-enealog-y, 
and  the  great  g-randmother  of  Eleazer,  was  the 
unfortunate  Eunace  Williams,  then  this  waif  of 
the  marriag-e  bed  of  the  forest  wig-wam,  had  but 
one-eig-hth  white  blood  in  his  veins.  It  is  true  he 
did  for  many  years  call  these  Indians  his  parents. 
This  was  natural,  as  disclosed  by  the  story  of  his 
life.  But  that  they  were  his  parents,  has  never 
been  proven.  Even  the  place  and  date  of  his 
birth  they  have  been  unable  to  show.  Nor  is  there 
any  reason  why  these  Indians  have  the  name  of 

149 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

Williams,  as  they  all  possess  unpronoiincable 
Indian  names. 

Eleazer  Williams  was  early  led  to  believe  he 
was  born  a.t  Caug-hnawag^a.  His  reputed  mother 
made  iin  affidavit  that  he  was  born  there  two 
years  after  she  had  said  he  was  born  on  the  banks 
of  Lake  Georg^e,  she  thought  in  June.  No  one 
knows  the  year,  though  Lyman  C.  Draper,  con- 
cluded that  it  was  1790,  while  John  Y.  Smith  con- 
cluded it  was  1792,  and  his  reputed  father  once 
said  in  January,  1800,  that  in  May  he  would  be 
twelve  years  old;  and  General  Albert  E.  Ellis 
writes  that  in  1800  Eleazer  was  fourteen  years  of 
ag"e,  which  would  make  his  birth  date  1796. 

When  the  mission  register  was  examined  and 
fouT^d  to  contain  the  names  and  dates  of  birth  of 
eleven  children  of  these  reputed  Indian  parents 
of  Rev.  Eleazer  Williams,  and  no  name  was  dis- 
covered there  which  could  be  tortured  into  La- 
zarre  or  Eleazer,  then  some  time  between  births 
must  be  found  in  which  to  bring  forth  Eleazer. 
There  is  printed  in  Hanson's,  "The  Lost  Prince, " 
a  transcription  from  the  register  of  thfe  mission 
at  Caughnawaga  authenticated  by  Father  Francis 
Marcoux,  priest  at  the  mission  in  1853,  when  the 
transcription  Avas  made,  showing  the  names  and 
dates  of  births  of  the  eleven  children  of  Thomas 
and  Mary  there  registered. 

This  list  is  as  follows; 


150 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 


"BAPTISMAL   RECORD. 

"EXTRACTS    DES    REGISTRES    DE    LA    MISSOIN   DU 
SAULT   ST.    LOUIS." 

"1779,  du  7  Janvier,  Thomas  Tehora  Kwanekeu 
a  espouse  Marie  Anne,  fille  de  Haronhumanen. 
Leurs  enfants  sont 

"Jean  Baptiste         ne  le 7  sept 1780 

Catharine nee  le 4  sept 1781 

Thomas ne  le 28  avr 1786 

Louise nee  le 18  mai 1791 

Jeanne  Baptiste 00" 21  avr 1793 

Pierre 25  aout nee  le 1795 

Pierre "     4  sept 1796 

Anne nee  le     30  janv 1799 

Dorothee " 2  aout 1801 

Charles ne 8  sept 1804 

Jervais "  22  juil 1807 

Marcoux,  Prete." 

In  the  second  affidavit  of  Mar}'  Ann  Williams, 
she  seeks  to  name  her  children  as  "Peter,  Catha- 
rine, Ig-natuis,  Thomas  (Eleazer  adopted),  Louisa, 
Charles  and  Jarvis."  This  statement  was  made 
in  1853,  and  Dr.  Williams  who  visited  her  in  1851, 
said:  "The  mother  of  Eleazer  was  very  old,  pos- 
sibly one  hundred.  She  was  what  miyht  be  called 
feeble  minded.'"  I  cannot  make  the  names  of  her 
children  as  she  gives  them  agree  with  the  church 
register,  and  am  content  to  leave  the  task  with 
those  who  seem  too  anxious  to  fill  in  the  "gaps," 

151 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 


for  I  agree  with  Eleazer  himself,  who  once  said 
while  a  guest  of  Dr.  S.  Williams  in  1851:  "If  I 
am  a  Williams  I  am  so  old,  but  if  I  am  the  Dau- 
phin, I  am  older."  There  is  no  reason  why  he 
was  not  born  in  1785,  the  birthdate  of  the  Dau- 
phin. No  one  has  j^et  furnished  one  sing-le  incon- 
testable fact  to  prove  Eleazer  of  Indian  birth, 
though  the  law  would  presume  him  to  be  their 
child,  in  the  absence  of  the  evidence  to  the  con- 
trary, because  of  his  long  life  as  their  admitted  off- 
spring. It  may  not  be  out  of  place  here  to  state 
that  in  1852,  all  the  children  of  Mary  Ann  Wil- 
liams were  dead,  and  that  all  died  of  consumption. 


^(^ 


152 


XIII 

THE  LITTLE  KING  RECOVERS  HEALTH  AND  MIND, 
AMONG  THE  ADIRONDAC  HILLS,  ALONG  THE  SYL- 
VAN BANKS  OF  BEAUTIFUL  LAKE  GEORGE.  "HE 
WHO  DIED  A  KING  IS  REGENERATED  A  BEGGAR." 

IN  1804  after  the  battle  of  Plattsburg-,  Mr.  Wil- 
liams and  his  reputed  father  went  to  Albany," 
says  Rev.  Eleazer  Williams  in  conversation 
repeated  by  Rev.  Dr.  Hanson,  "at  the  request  of 
Governor  Tompkins,  and  while  in  the  city, 
Thomas  Williams  said,  that  he  had  been  invited 
by  his  old  friends,  Jacob  Vanderheyden,  a  well 
known  Indian  trader,  to  spend  the  evening-,  and 
to  bring  his  son  with  him.  In  the  midst  of  good 
cheer  over  their  bottle  of  brandy,  a  conversation 
took  place  in  Eleazer's  hearing-  to  this  effect. 
They  spoke  of  Vanderheyden  having  encamped 
at  Caldwell's,  on  Lake  George,  in  October,  1795, 
and  remained  there  for  several  days  waiting  for 
the  Indians  to  come  down  from  the  north  to  pur- 
chase furs,  and  supply  them  with  g-oods  during- 
their  winter  hunts,  and  that  while  he  was  there, 
a  French  gentleman  came  among  them,  having 
a  French  boy  with  him  about  ten  years  old,  and 
after  staying  sometime  he  departed,  leaving  the 
boy  behind  him.  The  boy  was  deranged  at  the 
time,  spoke  French  and  German,    and  was   well 

153 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

dressed.  The  first  time  that  Vanderheyden  saw 
him  was  in  the  company  of  Thomas  Williamis, 
who  broug-ht  him  to  his  camp,  when  the  boy  ran 
boisterously  about  the  store,  and  ui)set  his  g-oods. 
After  speaking-  of  these  circumstances,  Vander- 
heyden said,  "Thomas,  did  I  not  tell  you  then  he 
was  not  3^our  boy?"  The  reply  was,  "You  have 
said  so  many  times — if  you  will  have  it  so  let  it 
be  so.'*  He  also  asked  "Thomas,  what  has  be- 
come of  that  Frenchman?"  But  Williams  does 
not  remember  what  answer  was  g^iven." 

"I  then  asked  Mr.  Williams  if  he  had  been  ac- 
quainted with  Le  Ray  de  Chaumont,  during-  his 
residence  in  St  Lawrence  County,  and  if  anything 
had  ever  occurred  between  them,  which  would 
tend  to  prove  that  he  had  a  knowledge  of  the 
Dauphin  being-  in  this  country.  He  replied,  that 
he  had  only,  to  the  best  of  his  recollections,  seen 
Le  Ra3'  once,  in  the  month  of  Januarj'-  or  Febru- 
ary, 1819  or  1820,  when  a  conversation  to  this 
effect  occurred  between  them.  Williams  was  at 
that  time  a  resident  at  Oneida,  among-  the  In- 
dians. In  this  place  there  also  lived  a  Colonel 
de  Ferrier,  formerly  an  officer  of  the  body  g-uard 
of  Louis  XVI,  who  had  fled  from  France  during  the 
Revolution,  and  married  an  Indian  woman  who  is 
still  living-.  Le  Ray  inquired  of  Williams  con- 
cerning- the  health  and  welfare  of  De  Ferrier; 
adding-  that  he  had  been  a  great  sufferer  in  the 
royal  cause;that  the  King's  familyhadbeen  widely 

154 


Eleazer  Williams,  1852 

From  a  Daguerreotype  in  Putnams  with  the  paper  "Have  we  a  Bourbon 

among  us?"  Gold  cross  of  St.  Louis  on  the  sash  left  with  the  child 

king  when  given  over  to  the  Indians. 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

scattered;  but  that,  notwithstanding-  all  the  mis- 
fortunes of  De  Ferrier,  he  was  no  greater  sufferer 
than  a  member  of  the  royal  family,  whom  both 
Colonel  de  Ferrier  and  he  believed  to  be  in  this 
country." 

"On  questioning  him  concerning  the  French- 
man, who  is  said  to  have  visited  him  in  child- 
hood, Mr.  Williams  said,  in  effect  as  follows: 
'That  after  the  restoration  of  his  reason,  about 
the  year  1799,  his  reputed  father  went  from 
Caughnawaga,  as  usual,  with  his  family  in  the 
month  of  September,  to  hunt  in  the  vicinity  of 
Lake  George.  While  encamping  on  the  shores 
of  the  lake,  with  other  Indian  families,  two 
strange  gentlemen  came  to  visit  Thomas  Will- 
iams, one  of  whom  had  every  indication  of  being  a 
Frenchman,  from  his  dress,  manners,  and  lan- 
guage; for  he  remembers  understanding  a  few 
words,  sufficient  to  know  that  he  spoke  in  French. 
He  had  on  a  ruffled  shirt  and  his  hair  was  powder- 
ed, and  bore  to  him  a  very  splendid  appearance. 
When  the  gentlemen  first  came  in  sig^ht,  Williajis 
and  the  other  boys  of  the  family  were  sporting 
on  the  lake,  in  a  little  wooden  canoe,  and  saw 
them  in  company  with  Thomas  Williams  take 
their  seats  on  a  log,  at  a  little  distance  from  the 
wigwam.  As  their  curiosity  was  excited,  to  know 
who  these  strangers  were,  they  left  their  canoe 
and  strolled  slowly  to  the  encampment  when 
Thomas    Williams     called    out,     "Eleazer,    this 

155 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

friend  of  yours  wishes  to  speak  with  you."  As 
he  approached,  one  of  the  gentlemen  rose  and 
went  off  to  another  Indian  encampment;  but  the 
other  one,  who  appeared  to  be  a  Frenchman,  ad- 
vanced several  steps  to  meet  him,  embraced  him 
most  tenderly,  and  when  he  again  sat  down  on 
the  log-  made  the  boy  stand  between  his  legs.  In 
the  meantime  he  shed  abundance  of  tears;  said, 
"Pauvre  garcon,"  and  continued  to  embrace  him. 
Thomas  Williams  was  soon  after  called  to  the 
wigwam,  and  Eleazer  and  the  Frenchman  were 
left  alone.  The  latter  continued  to  kiss  him  and 
weep,  and  spoke  a  great  deal,  seeming  very  anx- 
ious that  he  should  understand  what  was  said, 
which  he  was  unable  to  do.  When  Thomas  Will- 
iams returned  to  them,  he  asked  Eleazer  whether 
he  understood  what  the  gentlemen  said  to  him, 
and  he  replied,  "No."  They  then  both  left  him, 
and  walked  off  in  the  direction  in  which  the  other 
gentleman  had  gone;  who,  though  he  cannot 
speak  certainly,  yet  on  comparing  his  other  re- 
collections with  those  of  this  time,  he  is  of  the 
opinion  was  Thomas  Becker,  the  Indian  interpre- 
ter. The  gentleman  came  the  next  day  to  the 
wigwam,  and  the  Frenchman  remained  several 
hours.  Thomas  Williams  took  him  out  in  a  ca- 
noe on  the  lake,  and  the  last  which  Mr.  Williams 
remembers  was  their  all  sitting  together  on  the 
log,  when  the  Frenchman  took  hold  of  his  bare 
feet  and  dusty  legs,  and  examined  his  knees  and 

156 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

ankles  closely.  Again  the  Frenchman  shed  tears, 
but  young-  Eleazer  was  quite  indifferent,  not 
knowing-  what  to  make  of  it.  Before  the  gentle- 
man left,  he  gave  him  a  piece  of  gold.  After  a 
few  days,  Thomas  Williams,  contrary  to  his  us- 
ual custom,  returned  to  Caughnawaga  instead  of 
remaining  for  his  winter  hunt  at  Lake  George. 
The  cause  of  this  visit  he  can  only  conjecture, 
but  thinks  it  probable,  that  after  the  restoration 
of  his  mind,  Thomas  Williams  had  informed  Bel- 
anger  of  the  fact,  and  that  he  came  to  make  ar- 
rangements respecting  his  education,  Shortly 
after  this  incident,  while  the  family  of  Thomas 
Williams  were  at  Caughnawaga,  Nathaniel  Ely, 
of  Long  Meadows,  at  the  request  of  some  of  the 
members  of  the  European  branches  of  the  Will- 
iams family,  asked  Thomas  to  let  him  have  some 
of  his  boys  for  education. " 

"When  the  child  was  brought  over  from  Europe 
and  left  with  Thomas  Williams  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Albany  in  Nov.,  1795,  by  the  agent,  who- 
ever he  was,  for  so  far  I  regard  from  the  informa- 
tion I  have  recently  obtained,  to  be  exceedingly 
probable,  two  boxes  of  clothing  and  other  things 
by  w^hich  he  could  be  hereafter  identified,  were 
left  with  him.  All  this,  and  what  follows,  the 
old  Indian  woman  has  confessed.  One  of  these 
boxes  has  been  carried  off  by  a  daughter  of 
Thomas  Williams,  and  cannot  now  be  recovered. 
The  other  there  is  every  reason  to  suppose  is  still 

157 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

in  Montreal;  but  efforts  are  made  in  certain 
quarters  to  conceal  it.  In  this  box  were  three 
coins  or  medals,  one  of  gold,  one  of  silver  and 
one  of  copper,  fac-similes  of  each  other,  being 
the  medals  struck  at  the  coronation  of  Louis 
XVI,  and  Marie  Antoinette.  The  gold  and  sil- 
ver medals  being  of  value,  were  sold  by  the  In- 
dians in  Montreal.  The  copper  one  was  re- 
tained and  is  now  in  my  possession.  The  gold 
medal  has  also  been  seen  in  the  possession  of  a 
Romish  Bishop  at  Montreal  or  Quebec.  The  prob- 
ability that  these  traces  of  the  Dauphin  are  to 
be  found  in  Montreal  is  increased  by  the  proxim- 
ity of  Caughnawaga  to  that  city." 

"Have  you  any  memory  of  what  happened  in 
Paris,  or  of  your  voyage  to  this  country?" 

"Therein,"  he  replied,  "lies  the  mystery  of  my 
life.  I  know  nothing  about  my  infancy.  Every- 
thing that  occurred  to  me  is  blotted  out,  entirely 
erased,  irrevocably  gone.  My  mind  is  a  blank 
until  thirteen  or  fourteen  years  of  age.  You 
must  imagine  a  child  who,  as  far  as  he,  knows 
anything,  was  an  idiot,  destitute  even  of  con- 
sciousness. He  was  bathing  on  Lake  George, 
among  a  group  of  Indian  boys.  He  clambered 
with  the  fearlessness  of  idoc}'-  to  the  top  of  a  high 
rock.  He  plunged  down  head  foremost  into  the 
water.  He  was  taken  up  insensible,  and  laid  in 
an  Indian  hut.  He  was  brought  to  life.  There 
was  the   blue   sky,    there   were   the   mountains, 

158 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

there  were  the  waters.  That  was  the  first  I  knew 
of  life." 

"As  it  is  imj)ortant  to  compare  the  statements 
of  personal  feelings,  given  to  different  persons 
b}^  Mr.  Williams,  I  may  mention  here  that  a  gen- 
tleman of  the  bar,  of  high  standing,  whose  opin- 
ions I  shall  frequently  refer  to,  recently  said  to 
me.  "I  must  do  him  the  justice  of  saying,  that 
he  never  pretended  to  know  anything  personally 
of  what  occurred  in  his  childhood;  but  he  said, 
however,  that  after  the  plunge  in  Lake  George, 
his  mind  seemed  to  recover  its  tone  and  sound- 
ness, and  a  good  many  images  of  things  came 
back,  but  without  any  possibility  of  giving  them 
name  and  place."  "He  then  told  me  an  incident 
of  startling  and  dramatic  interest.  A  gentleman 
of  distinction,  on  his  recent  return  from  Europe, 
in  an  interview  with  Mr.  Williams,  threw  some 
lithographs  and  engravings  upon  the  table,  at 
the  sight  of  one  of  which  and  without  seeing  the 
name,  Williams  was  greatly  excited  and  cried 
out,  'Good  God!  I  know  that  face.  It  has 
haunted  me  through  life, '  or  words  to  that  effect. 
On  examination  it  proved  to  be  the  portrait  of 
Simon,  the  jailor  of  the  Dauphin." 

"The  next  link  in  the  evidence  is  yet  more  sin- 
gular. A  French  gentleman  hearing  my  story, 
brought  a  printed  account  of  the  captivity  of  the 
Dauphin,  and  read  me  a  note  in  which  it  was 
stated,  that  Simon  the  jailor  having  become  in- 

159 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

censed  with  the  Prince  for  some  childish  offence, 
took  a  towel  which  was  hang-ing-  on  a  nail,  and  in 
snatching-  it  hastily  drew  out  the  nail  with  it, 
and  inflicted  two  blows  upon  his  face,  one  over 
the  left  eye,  and  the  other  on  the  rig-ht  side  of 
the  nose.  And  now,  said  he,  let  me  look  at  your 
face.  When  he  did  so,  and  saw  the  scar  on  the 
spots  indicated  in  the  memoirs  he  exclaimed; 
'Mon  Dieu,  what  proof  do  I  want  more!' 

It  is  possible  for  the  brain  diseased  by  misuses 
of  the  body  to  recover  its  normal  condition  by  a 
shock.  Many  instances  of  this  are  reported,  and 
one  often  reads  them  in  the  daily  press. 

Some  have  supposed  that  the  outdoor  and  wig-- 
wam  life  of  the  wilderness  in  the  bracing-  climate 
of  northern  New  York,  would  have  been  a  severe 
blow  to  the  little  King-  in  his  weak  condition 
when  saved  from  the  Temple;  but  this  w^as  the 
very  place  to  take  him  to  save  his  life.  Fresh 
air,  out  of  doors,  coarse  but  wholesome  food,  the 
smell  of  the  wild  flowers  that  mantled  the  hills, 
fishing-,  hunting-  and  the  chase,  freedom,  all  that 
builds  up  the  frame,  revives  the  nerves,  ma'de  him 
a  man  ag-ain,  and  saved  his  life.  This  veiy  lo- 
cality where  the  Prince  was  left  among-  the  In- 
dians is  a  celebrated  resort  for  invalids  and  con- 
sumptives. 


160 


XIV. 

THOSE  LONG  MEADOW  DAYS 

HAPPILY  unconscious  of  the  throne  which 
lay  in  the  wreck  and  chaoe  of  the  Revolu- 
tion across  the  Atlantic,  the  wild  boy  of 
the  woods,  "who  died  a  prince,  was  regenerated 
a  beg^g'er, "  barefooted,  hatless  and  coatless, 
ranged  the  hills,  chased  the  deer  through  the 
opening's,  took  trout  from  the  wild  mountain 
streams,  or  swiftly  sped  his  canoe  across  the 
lake,  the  happiest  King  who  ever  breathed  the 
air  of  freedom.  He  heard  only  the  Mohawk 
tongue,  and  played  with  equally  ragged  and 
hungry  boys  like  himself,  who  shivered  in  the 
long,  bleak  winter,  or  shouted  with  joy  in  the 
hazy  Indian  summer  along  the  valley  of  the  St. 
Regis  river.  Thus  he  disported,  gaining  health 
and  strength  for  a  number  of  years. 

The  Indian  Thomas  was  on  a  v^isit  to  Long 
Meadow  four  miles  below  Springfield,  Massachu- 
setts, in  the  winter  of  1796-7,  to  Deacon  Nathan- 
iel Ely,  Jr.,  whose  wife  was  a  descendant  of  the 
Williams  family,  and  who  after  a  long  sickness 
had  taken  a  vow  to  devote  his  life  to  good  works. 
Deacon  Ely  proposed  to  Thomas  that  he  send  one 
of  his  boys  to  them  at  Long  Meadow  to  attend 
school.  Though  the  proposition  seemed  to  be 
favorably  received,  such  things  did  not  appeal  to 

161 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

the  Indian  Thomas,  and  nothing-  came  of  it.  A 
neighbor  of  Deacon  Ely  traveling  in  Canada  two 
years  later,  was  given  in  December,  1799,  a  letter 
to  Thomas,  conveying  an  urgent  request  to  send 
two  of  his  boys  to  be  educated.  When  this  let- 
ter arrived  at  the  wigwam  at  Caughnawaga,  Dr. 
Hanson  says:  "Eleazer  was  lying  in  bed  in  the 
same  room  wnth  his  supposed  parents,  and  as 
they  imagined  asleep.  The  Indian  strongly 
urged  a  compliance  with  the  request,  but  his 
squaw  objected  to  let  any  of  the  children  go  for 
an  education  among  heretics,  lest  they  should 
peril  their  souls.  But  when  he  persisted  in  the 
demand,  she  said,  'if  you  will  do  it,  you  may 
send  away  this  strange  boy;  means  have  been  put 
into  your  hands  for  his  education,  but  John,  I 
cannot  part  with'  ".  Her  willingness  to  sacrifice 
him,  and  the  general  tenor  of  the  conversation, 
excited  suspicions  in  his  mind  as  to  belonging  to 
their  family,  but  they  soon  passed  away.  It  was 
decided  that  both  he  and  John  should  go;  and 
January  23,  1800,  the  Indian  Thomas,^  came 
marching  over  the  snows  into  Long  Meadow,  fol- 
lowed by  Eleazer,  and  his  son,  John,  dressed  in 
buckskin  and  moccasins,  where  he  left  them  to 
live  in  the  family  of  Deacon  Ely  and  attend  the 
New  England  school  of  a  century  past.  Eleazer 
was  then  fifteen,  and  John  was  twenty  years  of 
age,  or  seven,  as  there  were  two  of  that  name. 
There  w^ere  in  this  humble  school  other  boys,  but 

1&2 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

of  Puritan  families  and  among-  them,  Mr.  Colton, 
who  thirty-three  years  afterward  in  his  book, 
"Tour  of  the  American  Lakes,"  remembered  the 
wild  untamed  antics  of  these  sprigs  of  the  wigwam 
and  wild  wood  in  these  words:  "Prom  the  wild- 
ness  of  their  nature  and  habits  it  was  necessary 
for  the  master  to  humor  their  eccentricities  until 
they  might  gradually  accomodate  themselves  to 
discipline;  and  but  for  the  benevolent  object  in 
view,  and  the  good  anticipated  it  was  no  small 
sacrifice  to  endure  the  disorder  which  their  man- 
ners at  first  created.  Unused  to  restraint  and 
amazed  at  the  orderly  scenes  around  them,  they 
would  suddenly  jump  and  cry  'Umph'!  or  some 
other  characteristic  and  g^uttural  exclamation, 
and  then  perhaps  spring-  across  the  room  and 
make  a  true  Indian  assault  upon  a  child  on  whom 
they  had  fixed  their  eyes,  to  his  no  small  affright 
and  consternation;  or  else  dart  out  of  the  house 
and  take  to  their  heels  in  such  a  direction  as  their 
whims  might  incline  them.  Confinement  they 
could  ill  endure  at  first;  and  so  long  as  they  did 
nothing  but  create  disorder  (and  that  they  did 
very  effectually)  they  were  indulged  until  by  de- 
grees they  became  used  to  discipline  and  beg-an 
to  learn.  Their  first  attempts  by  imitation  to 
enunciate  the  letters  of  the  Roman  alphabet  were 
quite  amusing,  so  difiicult  was  it  to  form  their 
tongues  and  other  organs  to  the  proper  shapes. 
If  the  children  of   the  school   laughed  (as  there 

163 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

was  some  apology  for  doing-)  these  bo3\s  would 
sometimes  cast  a  contemptuous  roll  of  the  eye 
over  the  little  assembly  and  then  leaving  an 
"Umph!"  behind  them  would  dart  out  of  the 
house  in  resentment." 

The  patience  and  good  judgment  of  the  earnest 
Deacon  Ely  assisted  by  the  example  at  his  home, 
slowly  tamed  the  young  men.  In  1802,  a  revival 
swept  over  Long  Meadow  which  effected  Eleazer 
and  he  is  supposed  to  have  joined  the  church  at 
this  time. 

Eleazer  clung  to  his  studies  and  made  remark- 
able progress.  Deacon  Ely  kept  a  diary  or 
journal  of  events,  and  doubtless  taught  this  to 
Eleazer,  as  he  seems  to  have  made  it  a  practice 
all  his  life  to  record  almost  daily  events  that 
came  within  his  life  or  under  his  notice.  From 
the  swift  manner  in  which  he  developed  his  mind 
at  the  school  of  Deacon  Ely,  one  would  suppose 
he  must  have  had  some  teaching  at  the  French 
mission  school  at  Caughnawaga.  His  diar}?^  be- 
ginning two  years  after  he  came  to  this  school, 
shows  almost  unheard  of  progress,  not  only  in  his 
study,  but  his  piety.  His  diary  at  this  time,  shows 
too  much  advance  for  only  two  years  at  school, 
though  his  expression  is  still  tangled  or  mis- 
placed, as  illustrated  by  this  quotation  from  the 
entry  of  December  9,  1802:  "God  is  once  more 
pleased  to  send  our  father.  He  came  today  about 
sundown,  and  brought  us  news  that  my  sister  is 

164 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

sick.  God  be  praised. "  Mr.  Storrs  explains  this 
visit  of  Thomas.  That  in  the  winter  of  1803 
Thomas  and  his  wife  came  to  Lonjj;-  Meadow,  to 
carry  one  or  both  of  the  boys  home  on  pain  of 
excommunication  by  the  priest.  John  therefore 
returned  to  Caughnawaga,  but  after  a  year  came 
back  and  remained  four  years  longer.  The  diary 
of  Deacon  Ely  records,  that  during  these  days, 
Eleazer  was  much  subdued  by  religious  influences. 
At  the  time  he  came  to  this  school,  he  was  youth- 
ful in  appearance,  as  w^ell  as  action,  for  his  school- 
mate Mr.  Calvin  Colton  supposed  him  to  be  but 
ten  years  of  age,  and  Mr.  Hale  with  whose  father 
Eleazer  was  a  pupil  at  Mest  Hampton  says  when 
he  first  saw  him  in  1800  he  was  but  ten  years  of  age. 
Governor  Williams  of  Vermont,  who  knew  Eleaz- 
er, supposed  he  was  born  in  1790,  whereas  he  was 
born  five  years  before.  Mr.  Ely  records  in  his 
diary  that  he  was  "19  years  of  age,"  and  in  1802 
that  he  was  15  years  of  age.  We  suppose  his 
boyish  appearance  was  due  to  his  handsome 
countenance  and  his  simple  deportment. 

As  the  impression  he  made  on  those  who  knew 
him  in  these  young  days  at  Long  Meadow  is  im- 
portant and  interesting,  we  will  let  a  number  of 
these  neighbors  tell  the  story  in  their  own  lan- 
guage. 

Julia  M.  Jenkins  of  New  York,  a  lady  who 
knew  him  at  Long  Meadow,  says  February  17, 
1853:     "His  total  unlikeness  in  his  personal  ap- 

165 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

pearance  as  well  as  character  and  habits  to  his 
reputed  brother,  forbade  at  once,  the  supposition 
of  one  and  the  same  origin.  While  the  latter 
was  truly  an  Indian,  with  long,  black  hair,  his 
complexion  and  every  feature  corresponding-  with 
his  race,  Eleazer  had  brown  hair,  hazel  eyes, 
light  complexion  and  European  features."  "A 
tinge  of  thoughtful  sadness  stole  over  him  when 
interrogated  with  regard  to  his  early  history. 
He  would  say  he  could  not  remember  much  about 
it,  and  it  gave  him  pain  apparently,  that  he  could 
not.  The  prevalent  opinion  in  that  vicinity  was 
that  he  was  a  French  boy,  taken  from  his  family 
at  an  early  age." 

"We  are  assured  by  one  of  our  schoolmates, 
who  remembers  their  entrance  into  the  village,  in 
their  Indian  costume,  that  a  distinction  was  at 
once  perceived  between  Eleazer  and  John.  John 
was  evidently  of  Indian  blood.  He  showed  no 
fondness  for  study,  always  kept  his  bows  and 
arrows  hid  away,  and  on  any  excuse  or  occasion 
would  make  use  of  them.  Eleazer  although  en- 
tirely illiterate  when  he  came  there,  sooii  became 
fond  of  his  books.  John  learned  little  or  nothing, 
and  soon  returned  home.  Eleazer  made  satis- 
factory progress  and  remained.  His  aifable  man- 
ners were  such  as  to  excite  unusual  attention  in  a 
quiet  village,  not  much  used  to  exagerations  of 
the  graces  of  life,  so  that  he  was  alwaj^s  called  a 
plausible    boy.     He  was  thought  by  his  school- 

166 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 


mates  somewhat  haughty,  despised  the  Indian 
g-ames  of  his  supposed  brother,  and  yet  was  led 
by  those  who  had  learned  his  character  without 
much  diflficulty.  These  peculiarities  we  have 
spoken  of  quite  independently  of  any  presump- 
tion that  Mr.  Williams  was  other  than  a  son  of 
Thomas  Williams.  The  only  considerations  of 
importance  which  those  who  knew  Mr.  Williams 
at  West  Hampton  can  contribute  to  the  inquiry 
respecting-  his  birth,  is  the  fact  that  he  showed 
none  of  the  traits  of  the  Indian  race,  and  al- 
though spoken  of  as  an  Indian,  was  not  really 
regarded  as  of  Indian  blood."  (Boston  Daily 
Advertiser,  February  17,  1853). 

Declaration  of  Urania  Smith,  Port  Washington, 
Ozaukee  County.  Wisconsin; 

"I,  Urania  Smith,  do  hereby  declare  that  my 
maiden  name  was  Urania  Stebbings;  that  I  was 
born  on  March  22d,  in  the  year  1786,  in  Long 
Meadow,  Massachusetts;  that  I  was  deprived  of 
my  parents  when  young,  and  was  brought  up  by 
Ethan  Ely,  of  Long  Meadow,  Massachusetts,  who 
was  my  uncle,  and  lived  next  door  to  Deacon 
Nathaniel  Ely.  In  the  beginning  of  the  year 
1800,  two  boys  were  brought  from  Canada  to 
Long  Meadow,  to  receive  an  education,  and  lived 
with  Nathaniel  Ely,  who  had  charge.  They  were 
called  Eleazer  or  Lazau  Williams,  and  John  Wil- 
liams, and  were  represented  as  tlie  descendants 
of  the  Rev.  John  Williams,  who  was  captured  by 

167 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

the  Indians  in  the  year  1704,  at  Deerfield.  They 
were  entirely  unlike  each  other  in  complexion, 
appearance,  form  and  disposition;  John  having 
the  look  of  an  Indian,  and  Eleazer  thatof  a  Euro- 
pean. I  distinctly  remember  that  when  the  said 
Nathaniel  Ely  was  remonstrated  wnth  for  calling 
Eleazer  and  John  brothers,  as  there  was  no  simi- 
larity between  them,  he  said  there  was  something 
about  it  which  he  would  probably  never  reveal; 
that  Eleazer  Williams  was  born  for  a  great  man, 
and  that  he  intended  to  give  him  an  education  to 
prepare  him  for  the  station.  Eleazer  was  very 
rapid  in  his  acquisitions  of  learning,  and  wrote 
at  an  early  period.  Much  notice  was  taken  of 
him  by  everybody,  and  Mr.  Ely  was  fond  of  ex- 
hibiting him  to  strangers." 

"Sworn  to  and  subscribed  before  me,  October 
8,  1853,  at  Port  Washington,  Lafayette  Forsley, 
J.  P.,  Clerk  Ozaukee  District  Court." 

"He  w^as  a  fine  handsome  boy, "  says  Mrs.  Dick- 
enson, "sprightly  and  fair  in  complexion,  and  my 
father  frequently  told  him  that,  he  looked  more 
like  a  Frenchman  than  an  Indian.  The  scars 
were  always  upon  his  face,  from  the  earliest 
period  of  my  recollection,  and'one  day,  he  came 
in  heated  with  exercise,  and  the  perspiration 
standing  on  his  forehead;  as  he  passed  the  mirror, 
his  eyes  fell  upon  the  scars  and  turned  quickly 
around  and  asked  me  if  I  had  ever  noticed  them, 
and  if  I  had  any  idea  where  he   "got   them?     I 

168 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

replied,  I  suppose  in  childhood;"  upon  which  he 
added,  there  were  painful  thoug-hts  connected 
with  them  in  his  mind,  which  he  could  not  dwell 
upon.  At  this  period  of  his  life,  thoug-h  usually 
happy,  and  frank  in  his  disposition,  he  was,  as  the 
whole  famil}'  remarked,  frequently  subject  to  fits 
of  musing-  and  abstraction,  as  if  endeavoring  to 
remember  something,  and  when  questioned  as  to 
the  reason  of  it,  he  said,  that  there  were  painful 
images  before  his  mind  of  things  in  childhood, 
which  he  could  not  get  rid  of  nor  exactly  under- 
stand. I  saw  an  asserted  brother  of  Mr.  Williams, 
who  was  sent  to  Long  Meadows  for  education. 
He  was  entirely  unlike  Mr.  Williams  in  appear- 
ance, being  quite  thin,  dark,  and  like  an  Indian, 
whereas  Mr.  Williams  was  always  full  and  portly 
in  person.  "Clarissa  W.  Dickenson." 

"February  13th,  1853." 

There  is  another  important  letter  which  I  will 

here  introduce,    and  which  will  tell  its  own  tale: 

"46,  Bank  Street,  New  York, 

Dear  Sir:  September  7,  1853. 

"In  reply  to  your  inquiries  respecting  my 
acquaintance  with  the  Rev.  Eleazar  Williams  in 
early  life,  I  beg  to  say  that  I  was  a  schoolmate  of 
his  at  Long  Meadow.  I  am  a  descendant  of  the  re- 
deemed captive,  the  Rev.  John  Williams,  who  was 
my  great-great-grandfather.  According  to  the 
best  of  my  recollection,  Eleazer  was  about  six- 
teen years  of  age,  when  he  came  to  the  care  of 

169 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

Mr.  Ely.  There  was  no  similarity  whatever  in 
appearance  between  him  and  any  of  his  family, 
either  his  brother  John,  or  his  reputed  father  and 
mother,  who  I  saw  on  their  visit  to  Long  Meadow. 
Thomas  Williams  I  saw  frequently.  Eleazer  was 
a  very  studious  boy — indeed,  he  seemed  to  do  lit- 
tle but  study;  and  I  can  well  remember  his 
remarkable  proficiency  in  writing-,  and  that  the 
second  winter  after  his  coming-  to  Long-  Meadow, 
he  would  say  to  me,  'Come,  Cousin  Mary,  and 
hear  my  sermon,'  when  he  would  produce  and 
read  some  MS.  on  relig-ious  subjects.  There  was 
something  so  remarkable  in  his  character,  attain- 
ments, and  amiable  and  religious  disposition, 
that  the  highest  attention  was  shown  him  by  the 
most  distinguished  persons,  as  he  was  not  like 
other  children,  and  was  always  in  the  company  of 
gentlemen  of  literature  and  sobriety. 
"Very  truly  yours, 

Mary  W.  Jewett. 

From  Mrs.  Temple,  daughter  of  Nathaniel  Ely: 

"Dear  Sir: 

''The  efforts  made  by  my  dear  departed  father, 
deacon  Nathaniel,  to  educate  and  qualify  you  for 
usefulness  among  your  countrymen,  as  well  as  to 
prepare  you  for  glory,  honor  and  immortality, 
have  given  me  so  deep  an  interest  in  you,  that  I 
should  feel  pleasure  in  complying  with  any  rea- 
sonable request  of  yours.  I,  therefore,  state  in 
writing,  as  you  desired,  that  there  was  an  entire 

170 


^^^' 


Eleazer  Williams,   1852 

From  a  painting  by  Chevalier  Fagnani  a  portrait  painter  in  New  York  citj-, 
painted  about  1852 — (from  lost  Prince.) 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

and  striking  dissimilarity  between  yourself  and 
your  brother  John,  in  the  features  of  your  face, 
your  general  appearance  and  also  in  your  predi- 
lections and  character. 

"Your  early  and  sincere  friend, 

Martha  E.  Temple. 
"Rev.  Eleazer  Williams, 
"January  24,  1851." 
Among-  the  Indians  and  at  Long  Meadow  he 
was  known  as  Lazare,  often  twisted  by  unfa- 
miliar spelling  of  the  French  pronunciation  into 
Lazo,  Lazar,  Lazau,  Lezau,  Leazer.  Mrs.  Cather- 
wood  has  doubled  the  "r"  and  some  yank  in 
Long  Meadow,  imagined  he  was  named  Eleazer. 
His  mother  calls  him  Lazare.  Doubtless  the  true 
name  given  him  was  Lazare,  after  the  Saint  La- 
zare, which  is  an  honorable  name  in  France,  be- 
ing given  to  the  Close  St.  Lazare  in  Paris;  and 
Lazare  Carnot  bore  the  name.  It  is  frequently 
met  with  in  French  and  Italian  history.  It  is  de- 
rived from  Lazarus,  and  adopted  by  an  order  for 
the  assistance  of  lepers,  introduced  into  France 
by  Louis  VII.,  in  the  twelfth  century;  while  the 
name  Eleazer  is  derived  from  the  high  priest,  son 
of  Aaron,  and  neither  are  similar  names  or  cor- 
ruptions of  each  other.  Mr.  Draper  is  mistaken 
in  supposing  his  name  Eleazer  points  to  a  Will- 
iam's relationship.  Lazare  is  frequently  met 
with  as  a  name  among  the  Oneida,  in  honor  of 
Rev.  Williams.     The  accentis  on  the  first  syllable. 

171 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 


His  close  application  to  study  impaired  his 
health,  and  he  was  given  an  opportunity  to  trav- 
el. In  1805  he  was  taken  to  Boston  by  Deacon 
Ely  and  later  in  the  year  to  Canada.  While  in 
Boston,  Deacon  Ely,  who  was  a  member  of  the  Leg- 
islature, boarded  with  an  Irish  Roman  Catholic 
gentleman,  where  he  took  Eleazer  to  board  while 
in  Boston.  Of  this  period  Dr.  Hanson  relates  an 
occurrence  as  told  him  by  Eleazer.  "As  Ely  was 
a  great  admirer  of  the  music  in  the  Roman 
Church,  they  all  went  there.  A  few  days  after, 
the  Irishman  introduced  Williams  to  Chevreuse, 
then  only  a  priest,  and  rector  of  the  church,  as 
an  Indian  youth,  who  was  receiving  an  educa- 
tion, mentioning  his  supposed  descent  from  Will- 
iams, the  captive;  whereupon  Chevreuse  inquired 
whether  there  were  many  descendants  of  Europ- 
ean captives  still  among  the  Indians,  and  children 
of  French  Canadians  adopted  into  Indian  families. 
He  replied  there  were.  Chevreuse  then  asked  if 
he  had  ever  heard  of  a  French  boy,  who  had  been 
brought  from  France,  having  been  adopted  by 
the  Indians.  The  reply  was  ' 'no. "  ' 'Now  it  was 
curious,"  said  Williams,"  that  he  was  making 
these  inquiries  of  the  very  person  of  whom  he 
was  in  search." 

The  following  year  he  went  to  study  with  Dr. 
Welch  of  Mansfield,  Connecticut,  where  many 
descendants  of  Rev.  John  Williams  resided.  The 
next  May  found  him  at  study  in  Hartford  where 

172 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

he  met  President  Dwig-ht  of  Yale  college,  who 
records  that  he,  "has  a  very  good  countenance, 
pleasing  manner,  good  understanding,  with 
scarcely  a  trace  of  Indian  character."  In  No- 
vember he  visited  Dartmouth  college,  and  took 
up  his  studies  in  the  Academy  connected  with  it, 
where  he  sustained  a  reputation  for  scholarship 
and  Christian  character.  He  remained  here  for 
sometime  which  led  Parkman  to  say,  he  was  "ed- 
ucated at  Dartmouth. "  Now  at  twenty-two,  he 
was  said  to  appear  to  be  about  twenty,  and  "a 
very  pompous  person,  wore  a  tinsel  badge  or 
star  on  his  left  breast  and  styled  himself  Count 
de  Lorraine,''  while  he  recorded  of  his  fellow 
students  at  Hanover:  "The  young  genltemen  ap- 
pear to  be  scholars,  but  I  perceive  that  there  is 
something  wanting  in  them  to  make  them  com- 
plete gentlemen.  Modesty  is  the  ornament  of  a 
person".  Why  he  claimed  to  be  Count  de  Lor- 
raine is  not  explained  but  I  would  suppose  it  had 
reference  to  the  Lorraine  ancestry  of  Marie  An- 
toinette. He  certainly  had  heard  and  seen  many 
things  to  arouse  his  curiosity  and  direct  his  mind 
toward  French  history  for  an  explanation  of  him- 
self. He  became  a  student  of  Rev.  Enoch  Hale  at 
West  Hampton  with  whom  he  remained  except  at 
intervals  when  traveling  until  August,  1812,  when 
the  war  with  England  commenced;  but  during 
much  of  this  time  he  traveled.  One  of  his  jour- 
neys was  at  the  request  of  the  American  board  of 

173 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

Missions,  to  his  old  home  atCaug-hnawaga  to  as- 
certain the  encouragement  he  might  have  to  in- 
troduce a  protestant  mission  among  those  Mo- 
hawks. It  was  during  these  years  also  that  he 
met  Bishop  Hobart  of  New  York,  who  was  at- 
tracted by  him  and  gave  him  much  attention  and 
Eleaser  was  strongly  urged  to  join  the  Episcopal 
communion  at  this  time.  The  Rev.  Benjamin 
Moore,  D.  D.,  Bishop  of  New  York,  and  Rev.  Dr. 
Mountain  of  Montreal,  were  esjjeciall}^  urgent 
that  Eleazer  should  become  a  member  of  the  Pro- 
testant Episcopal  church,  promising  flattering 
things  to  complete  his  education  and  preparation 
for  missionary  work.  Eleazer's  education  had 
been  paid  for  by  contribution  from  the  Massa- 
chusetts Missionary  Society,  Hampshire  Mission- 
ary Society  and  others,  and  the  Massachusetts 
Legislature  had  voted  him  three  hundred  and 
fifty  dollars  as  early  as  1804. 

At  this  time  Deacon  Ely  was  dead,  and  the 
Congregational  people  who  we  suppose  had  been 
supporting  him  during  his  study,  were  embar- 
rased  for  funds  to  keep  him.  He  went  again  to 
Caughnawaga  on  a  similar  mission.  He  was  met 
this  time  by  the  Jesuits  who  proposed  he  should 
accept  authority  from  their  bishop  as  a  teacher 
to  the  Indian  tribes.  The  offer  is  said  to  have 
been  so  attractive  that  he  was  actually  commis- 
sioned by  the  Jesuits  as  a  teacher,  and  to  have 
received  from  them  a  church  library  with  prayer 

174 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

book  and  missal.  That  he  had  the  books  may  be 
true,  but  General  Ellis  must  be  in  error  as  to  his 
entering  the  Catholic  priesthood. 

Some  criticisms  having  been  made,  Mr.  Storrs 
replies  to  them  in  1811:  "I  have  heard  it  ob- 
jected to  Eleazer  that  he  appeared  fickle,  but 
who  would  rationally  expect  that  an  Indian 
would  at  once  become  steady?  I  have  heard  it 
said  that  he  was  assuming;  this  no  one  will  think 
strange  who  considers  how  much  he  has  been 
flattered  and  caressed  by  many  of  the  first  char- 
acters in  New  England." 

In  March  1812,  after  having  had  no  success  as 
a  protestant  missionary  among  the  Caughnawaga 
savages,  he  received  a  message  from  the  Iroquois 
chiefs,  requesting  his  attendance  at  a  Council, 
they  manifested  their  esteem  by  declaring  him  a 
chief  of  that  nation.  About  the  same  time  that 
the  government  sought  his  services  in  the  war, 
the  St.  Regis  Indians  requested  his  advice  on 
their  course  during  the  war. 

Eleazer  had  now,  after  thirteen  years  of  study, 
so  far  perfected  himself  in  the  English  language 
as  to  begin  the  work  of  authorship,  and  in  the 
first  month  of  1813,  when  he  was  twenty-eight 
years  of  age,  had  prepared  and  published  at  Bur- 
lington, Vermont,  "A  tract  on  man's  primitive 
rectitude,  his  fall  and  his  recovery  through  Jesus 
Christ." 

Over  in  New  York  at  Plattsburg  in  the  same 

175 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

year,  he  published,  "A  spelling-  book  in  the  lan- 
guage of  the  seven  Iroquois  nations."  It  is 
proper  to  observe  that  for  an  Indian,  the  publi- 
cation of  two  works  after  a  recorded  study  of 
thirteen  years  is  quite  unusual. 


f|? 


176 


XV. 

SCOUTING  BETWEEN  THE  LINES. 

AT  the  request  of  the  National  g-overnment 
and  the  Northern  Indian  department  of 
New  York,  he  entered  the  service,  in  the 
war  with  Eng-land,  as  a  confidential  agent  or 
scout.  "Much  will  depend  upon  your  zeal  and 
activity  as  an  Indian  chief  in  that  section  of  the 
Country,  which  is  the  principal  theatre  of  the 
war,"  wrote  the  secretary  of  war.  Eleazer  Will- 
iams writes  July  27,  1812:  "I  am  sent  for  to  pre- 
vent the  Indians  from  taking  up  the  hatchet 
against  the  Americans.  I  tremble!  my  situation 
is  very  critical,  indeed.  I  hope  God  will  direct  • 
.me  what  to  do."  His  long  acquaintance  with  the 
tribes  on  the  Canada  border  made  him  useful  es- 
pecially as  he  could  speak  both  languages.  His 
patrons  in  Massachusetts  were  disappointed 
when  they  learned  he  had  joined  the  army.  He 
was  invited  to  join  General  Brown,  under  good 
pay,  to  gather  information  through  the  border 
Indians,  for  the  American  General.  He  did  in 
several  instances  render  valuable  assistance  with 
important  information.  He  was  also  actively  en- 
gaged as  a  soldier  in  the  ranks.  "He  received 
the  commendation  of  his  officers  for  zeal,  bravery 
and  fidelity." 

Plattsburg   is   located    on  the   north    bank    of 
Saranac  river  in  northern  New  York,  at  its  en- 

177 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

trance  into  Cumberland  Bay  on  Lake  Champlain. 
In  Aug-ust  1814,  5,000  men  were  withdrawn  from 
there,  leaving  General  Macomb  in  command  at 
Plattsburg,  with  only  1,500,  one  of  whom  was 
Eleazer  Williams.  The  British  in  Canada  being 
strongly  reinforced  by  veterans,  who  had  served 
under  Wellington,  advanced  in  September,  under 
Sir  Georg-e  Prevost  at  the  head  of  14,000  men. 
On  the  sixth  the  enemy  arrivedat  Plattsburg.  The 
Americans  crossed  the  river  and  during  four  days 
withstood  all  attempts  of  the  enem}'^  to  force  a 
passage.  On  the  11th,  after  a  naval  battle  of 
two  hours,  the  British  fleet  was  silenced  and 
most  of  the  vessels  captured.  The  land  battle 
continued  all  day,  but  the  loss  of  their  fleet 
caused  the  enemy  to  beat  a  hasty  retreat,  leav- 
ing behind  a  large  quantity  of  military  stores, 
and  their  sick  and  wounded.  It  was  at  this  bat- 
tle, upwards  of  five  thousand  British  deserted. 
Eleazer  Williams  was  wounded  in  the  left  side  by 
a  splinter.  His  father's  nursing  and  Indian  rem- 
edies restored  him  to  health  and  strength  after 
several  weeks.  A  good  many  years  af{er  the 
event,  he  was  refused  a  pension  for  his  wound,  or 
services,  by  Congress.  In  exhibiting  this  wound 
to  Dr.  S.  W.  Williams  in  later  years  to  obtain  his 
opinion  for  a  pension,  the  doctor  observed  his 
unexposed  skin  was  more  the  color  of  an  Indian 
than  a  white  man.  About  fifteen  years  after  this 
General  Louis  Cass  then  Governor  of  Michigan, 

178 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

writing  to  Hon.  John  H.  Eaton,  then  secretary  of 
war  at  Washing^ton,  made  this  glowing'  tribute  to 
Eleazer  Williams,  that  in  the  event  of  a  vacancy 
in  the  Green  Bay  Indian  Agency,  "I  beg  leave  to 
recommend  the  Rev.  Eleazer  Williams  as  a  proper 
person  to  fill  the  vacancy.  This  gentleman  is  an 
Episcopal  clergyman  of  very  respectable  stand- 
ing, and  partly  descended  from  the  Iroquois  In- 
dians. He  rendered  essential  services  to  the 
United  States  during  the  late  war,  in  which,  he 
was  actively  engaged  and  badly  wounded,  the 
effects  of  which  will  probably  continue  during 
life.  I  understand  that  he  enjoyed  the  confidence 
of  our  highest  and  most  distinguished  officers 
and  bravely  led  a  heavy  column  at  the  battle  of 
Plattsburg.  He  is  a  gentleman  of  education  and 
talents,  and  from  his  position  and  associations 
can  render  important  services  to  the  Government 
and  the  Indians". 


4* 


179 


XVI. 

THK  ELOQUENT  MISSIONARY   TO  THE  ONEIDA. 

THE  war,  which  had  swept  across  his  own 
home  for  two  years,  coming  to  a  close,  he 
followed  in  the  wake  of  peace  and  again 
lived  with  his  old  Indian  mother  and  father,  at 
their  new  home  in  St.  Regis.  He  could  not  re- 
main long  here.  In  November  he  visited  Oneida 
Castle  and  some  Indians  he  had  previously  met. 
Believing  these  bands  susceptible  to  Christian 
teaching  and  civilization,  he  determined  to  go 
among  them.  During  the  war  he  met  Lieut. 
Governor  Zachariah  Taylor  at  Albany,  and  his 
rector  Rev.  Dr.  Clowes,  and  the  Rev.  Butler  of 
Troy,  both  of  whom  interested  him  in  the  Epis- 
copal church.  At  this  place  he  renewed  his  ac- 
quaintance with  Bishop  Hobart.  Gen.  Taylor 
had  recommended  the  Oneida  Indians  to  ask 
Eleazer  Williams  to  go  to  them.  He  now  ap- 
proached Bishop  Hobart  on  the  subject.  He 
went  to  New  York  and  was  confirmed  by  Bishop 
Hobart,  May  21,  1815,  at  St.  John's  Episcopal 
Church,  and  prepared  "a  book  of  prayer  in  Iro- 
quois, which  was  published  at  Albany  in  1816,  and 
was  called  to  the  Oneida  as  a  religious  teacher, 
lay  reader  and  catechist,  March  23,  1816,  taking 
with  him  a  letter  from  Bishop  Hobart.  Here  he 
remained   for  six   years.     His  labors   at  Oneida 

180 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

Castle  were  very  successful.  This  Indian  town 
was  about  twenty  miles  west  of  Utica,  beautiful- 
ly located.  Eleazer  Williams  lived  in  the  old 
homestead  of  Skenandoah,  the  old  head  chief  of 
the  Oneidas,  who  died  on  the  11th  of  the  same 
month,  located  at  the  famous  old  butternut  orch- 
ard. 

He  had  very  little  furniture,  but  quite  a  li- 
brary, some  very  rare,  choice  books;  a  good  num- 
ber in  French,  and  a  set  of  Catholic  missal,  one 
volume  fourteen  inches  wide  and  two  feet  high 
and  very  heavy,  printed  in  different  colors,  the 
mass  book  complete  in  latin.  He  was  very  fond 
of  books,  though  General  Albert  G.  Ellis  who 
appeared  there  as  his  companion  in  the  fall  of 
1819,  says  that  his  reading  was  mostly  confined 
to  narrative  and  history. 

He  was  of  jovial  temper,  enjoyed  life,  and  a 
good  appetite.  The  book  of  prayer  revised  by 
him  was  an  improvement  of  Brants  which  had 
been  arranged  twenty-five  years  before,  and  which 
used  twenty  English  letters  in  writing  the  Mo- 
hawk, while  Williams  only  used  eleven  letters — 
a,  e,  h,  i,  k,  n,  o,  r,  s,  t,  w.  This  simplified  the 
orthography  so  much  that  an  Indian  child  could 
be  taught  to  read  in  a  few  lessons.  He  had  the 
morning  service  printed,  and  introduced  in  his 
church  services;  and  no  English  congregation 
ever  responded  in  their  prayers  more  fully  than 
did  the   Oneidas  in   theirs.     By   composing  and 

181 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

having  published  a  small,  ''spelling  and  rudi- 
mental  book,'"  he  greatly  facilitated  the  teaching 
of  the  young  people  to  read  Oneida  or  Mohawk. 
It  was  the  knowledge  of  the  Mohawk  language 
and  the  captivating,  forcible,  elegant  use  he 
made  of  it  that  gave  him  such  hold  on  the  Onei- 
das  and  all  Indians  who  heard  him.  There  were 
fifteen  hundred  Indians  living  in  huts,  wigwams 
and  otherwise  about  the  town  and  country  whose 
recovery  from  their  pagan  ways  he  had  set  for 
his  task  and  few  were  better  qualified.  These 
were  the  descendants  of  the  same  tribes  who  had 
murdered  missionaries  and  tortured  the  Jesuit  fa- 
ther Jogues,  by  pulling  the  nails  from  his  fingers, 
and  holding  his  hand  over  a  slow  fire  until  it  was 
destroyed.  Their  warriors  had  swept  the  Eries 
and  Neuters  entirely  out  of  existence,  and  driv- 
ing the  tribes  before  them  had  conquered  the 
lands  to  the  Mississippi  river.  The  Jesuit 
dreaded  them  as  a  scourge,  and  Parkman  has 
recorded  that  two  hundred  years  of  missionary 
work  had  not  raised  up  a  priest  among  the  Iro- 
quois. When  they  rose  against  the  Colonists 
during  the  Revolution,  the  Oneida  remained  neu- 
tral and  thus  they  were  saved  from  the  ven- 
geance that  swept  over  their  brother  tribes,  when 
forty  of  their  villages  were  put  to  the  torch. 
The  Oneida  was  one  of  the  powerful  tribes  of  the 
confederacy  of  the  six  nations  of  Mingoes,  as 
styled  by  the  English  or  Iroquois  of  the  French. 

182 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 


Such  were  the  descendants  of  untutored,  war  like 
savag-es  among-  whose  huts  Eleazer  "Williams  ap- 
peared. These  famed  missionaries  Cecum  and 
Kirkland  had  been  there  before  him. 

"Mr.  "Williams,"  says  General  Ellis,  "in  the 
Mohawk,  was  a  born  Orator.  Perfect  master  of 
the  lang-uag-e,  he  held  his  audience,  whether  in 
these  levees,  or  in  the  church,  perfectly  en- 
chained. Till  Williams  came  among-  them,  they 
had  heard  the  g-ospel  only  throug-h  the  clouded 
vehicle  of  an  interpreter  and  their  missionary, 
Jenkins,  a  man  of  low  order  of  intellect,  obscured 
by  bad  habits,  who  presented  only  a  dim  view  of 
the  great  subjects,  and  g-ave  but  a  faint  picture 
of  the  glorious  gospel  of  good  news  to  fallen 
men.  "Williams  addressed  them  in  the  mother 
tongue,  and  with  enthusiasm.  They  were  soon 
captivated,  and  poor  Jenkins  only  had  empty 
benches." 

"Williams,  besides  being  tolerably  versed  in 
the  Christian  system  and  in  theology,  was  thor- 
ough master  of  the  Indian  language,  his  mother 
tongue,  besides  being  a  natural  orator  and  most 
graceful  and  powerful  speaker,  the  sine  qua  non 
of  persuasion  and  success  with  Indians." 

"He  found  at  Oneida  a  nominal  christian  party, 
and  the  name  only  of  a  church  under  the  patron- 
age of  the  Presbyterians,  with  Mr.  Jenkins  as 
missionary.  Jenkins  was  weak,  inefficient, 
without  influence;   and  his  cure   partook  of   the 

183 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

like  character;  the  numbers  were  small,  and  the 
congregation  on  the  decline.  Williams  saw  at  a 
glance  his  vantage  ground.  He  told  the  Onei- 
das,  it  was  a  mistake  in  that  order  of  Christians 
to  intrude  themselves  among  Oneidas,  and  called 
to  their  recollection  the  fact,  that  two  venerable 
missionaries  of  the  London  Missionary  Society 
of  the  Church  of  England  had  many  years  ago 
planted  the  gospel  among  them." 

"That  old  Dr.  Barclay  and  Dr.  Ogilvie  of  that 
church,  had  been  specially  commissioned  by  the 
Great  Head  of  the  church,  to  baptize  the  Onei- 
das, and  that  he,  Williams,  had  been  sent  by  the 
same  divine  authority  to  remind  them  of  the 
claims  of  that  church,  and  to  bring  them  back  to 
their  allegiance.  Instant  success  attended  these 
addresses.  Many  of  the  older  Indians  of  both  sexes 
remembered  Dr.  Barclay  and  Dr.  Ogilvie,  and 
confirmed  the  statements  and  claims  of  the  young 
Catechist;  the  whole  Christian  party  very  soon 
forgot  Jenkins,  and  hung  on  the  teachings  of 
Williams."  But  his  views  went  further;  four- 
fifths  of  the  whole  tribe  were  Pagans,  and  held 
Christianity  in  utter  abhorrence;  and  the  conver- 
sion of  this  part  of  the  tribe  now  engaged  his  at- 
tention. Assuming  a  tone  of  authority,  and  de- 
manding of  them  to  listen  to  a  message  to  them 
from  the  Great  Spirit,  he  assembled  them  in  the 
open  air,  and  challenged  them  either  to  obey  or 
refute   the   Gospel.     In   ten   months   the   Pagan 

184 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

party  made  a  formal  renunciation  of  paganism 
and  recognized  Christianity  as  taught  by  the  Pro- 
testant Episcopal  Church  as  the  true  faith,  and 
announced  their  determination,  as  a  tribe,  to  re- 
ceive it  and  encourage  its  promulgation  among 
the  people.  The  following  winter,  the  chief  of 
this  party,  taking  Williams  and  their  interpreter, 
repaired  to  Albany,  and  their  treated  with  the 
Governor  of  the  State  for  a  cession  of  a  part  of 
their  reservation,  for  the  express  purpose  of 
building  a  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  and  pro- 
viding a  small  fund  for  the  support  of  a  minister. 
The  church  was  built  that  year;  a  neat  edifice, 
about  thirty-six  by  fifty  feet,  with  a  small  tower, 
tastefully  painted,  and  otherwise  fitted  up  in  an 
appropriate  manner  for  a  place  of  worship. 
"Williams  entered  it  as  minister,  though  not  as 
yet  ordained;  and  the  worthy  Bishop  was  called 
to  consecreate  it,  and  confirm  about  fifty  com- 
municants." 

The  eclat  of  this  sudden  success  of  the  Gospel 
at  Oneida,  under  the  efforts  of  Mr.  Williams, 
sped  far  and  wide,  and  brought  him  suddenly  in 
great  notice,  and  to  a  dizzy  height. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Eleazer  Williams  ap- 
peared at  Oneida  on  March  23,  1816,  to  take  up 
his  work  in  this  very  unpromising  field.  In  just 
ten  months  in  the  winter  of  January  25,  1817,  the 
heathen  and  pagan  tribes  were  converted,  and 
appeared  before  the  Governor  of  New  York,  at 

185 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

Albany,  and  signed  the  renunciation  of  pag-an- 
ism.  their  heathen  beliefs  and  practices,  "have 
abandoned  our  idols  and  our  sacrifices,"  "objura- 
tion of  paganism  and  its  rites",  signed  by  eleven 
"chiefs  and  principal  men  of  that  part  of  the 
Oneida  nation  of  Indians,"  known  as  Pagan 
Party;  and  they  treated  with  him  for  the  cession 
of  a  portion  of  their  lands  for  the  building  of  a 
church,  and  providing  for  a  minister  and  his  sup- 
port. The  church  was  built  and  Eleazer  Williams 
mounted  the  pulpit  in  his  robes  as  minister, 
though  not  yet  ordained.  The  next  year  (Sep- 
tember 3,  1818)  Bishop  Hobart  made  the  journey 
to  Oneida  Castle  and  confirmed  a  class,  Ellis  says 
of  fifty,  Wight  and  Hanson  say  eighty-nine,  and 
Draper  says  five  hundred. 

The  labor  of  the  missionary  is  among  the  no- 
blest callings  of  man,  demanding  self  sacrifice 
incalculable,  and  beyond  the  understanding  of 
any  one  outside  the  work  itself.  A  volunteer 
missionary  is  worthy  of  all  praise.  Many  of  them 
labor  among  these  heathen  peojDle  and  no  impres- 
sion is  made  for  generations.  But  here  'Eleazer 
Williams  accomplished  among  these  Oneida 
braves  in  one  summer,  the  Christianization  of  a 
whole  tribe;  and  it  was  sincere,  it  was  successful. 
Those  same  savages  are  citizens  and  voters  in 
New  York  and  Wisconsin  today.  All  the  world 
has  been  dragged  for  some  little  item  of  abuse  to 


186 


Rev.  Eleazer  Williams,  1850 

From  a  painting  now  in  possession  of  George  Williams  in  St.  Louis,  given  to 

him  by  his  mother  Mrs.   John  L.  WilHams  of  Oshkosh — It  was  painted 

in  Boston  for  Amos  Lawrence  about  1830  and  given  to 

John  L.  Williams  about  1857. 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

heap  on  Rev.  Eleazer  Williams,  but  this  one  act 
of  his,  accomplished  alone  and  unaided  which 
shall  endure  for  ever  to  the  benefit,  even  to  the 
last  generation  of  those  people,  and  the  good  of 
humanity,  is  a  monument  worthy  of  the  best  of 
men. 

He  made  visits  to  the  surrounding-  tribes  of  the 
Iroquois  nation,  and  preached  to  them  with  great 
power  and  persuasive  eloquence,  assisted  by 
Jasper  Parish  and  Horatio  Jones,  they  persuaded 
the  Senecas  whose  chief  was  Red  Jacket  to  estab- 
lish schools  and  other  improvements  among 
them,  a  large  majority  of  whom  had  hitherto  re- 
sisted any  advance  among  them  toward  civiliza- 
tion. Most  of  this  great  work  had  been  accom- 
plished within  two  years. 

It  was  in  the  summer  of  1818,  while  on  a  visit 
to  Montreal,  that  father  Richards  had  told  Rev. 
Williams  of  a  conversation  with  the  Abbe  de 
Colonne  at  Three  Rivers,  intimating  there  was 
mystery  in  his  history,  saying,  "you  are,  I  sus- 
pect, of  higher  grade  by  blood,  than  the  son  of 
an  Iroquois  Chief."  On  returning  to  Caughna- 
waga,  he  found  of  the  eleven  children,  whose 
birth  was  recorded  in  the  mission  church  register, 
his  was  absent,  which  helped  to  raise  in  his  mind, 
serious  doubts  of  his  parentage. 

While  at  Oneida  Castle,  Thomas  Williams 
twice  came  over  the  wooded  hills  and  through 
the  valleys  from  St.  Regis,  to  visit  him.     Gener- 

187 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

al  Ellis  who  saw  the  chief  on  these  visits  says 
that  many  noticed  their  resemblance  to  each 
other.  Eleazer  Williams  must  have  been  a  living- 
composit  picture,  as  it  is  variously  asserted  that 
he  strongly  resembled  the  Catholic  Bourbons, 
the  puritan  Williams,  and  the  last  of  the  Mo- 
hawks. Rev.  Williams  had  a  wide  reputation  as 
one  versed  in  the  story  and  history  of  the  Indian 
and  frontier  experience.  But  his  information 
was  quite  limited  as  he  had  not  traveled  far, 
seen  much  or  interviewed  more  than  a  few  mem- 
bers of  a  limited  number  of  tribes.  His  mail  was 
loaded  with  inquiries  on  these  subjects.  Letters 
came  to  him  from  New  York,  Boston,  Hartford 
and  other  places,  asking-  for  information  of  mis- 
sionary labors  which  he  could  answer;  but  those 
were  more  difficult  for  him  to  answer  to,  which 
made  inquiry  of  the  travels  of  La  Salle,  Henne- 
pin, Marquette,  early  conflicts  of  the  Indian  with 
New  England  and  kindred  topics.  Rev.  Samuel 
Jarvis,  D.  D.,  Colonel  Elihu  Hoyt,  Franklin  B. 
Hough,  and  Mrs.  Lydia  Huntly,  Sigpurney, 
sought  his  information  of  Indian  tradition  and 
history.  In  trying  to  satisfy  this  demand  for  ab- 
original information  he  gave  them  some  stories 
which  might  have  taxed  their  credulity.  He  re- 
peated a  tradition  of  "the  Bell  of  St.  Regis'', 
which  Mrs.  Sigourney  wove  into  a  beautiful  poem 
and  Henry  W.  Longfellow  found  worthy  of  his 
notice.     The   story  as  learned  by  Eleazer  Will- 

188 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

iams,  and  repeated  to  these  inquiring'  people, 
was  that  at  the  burning'  of  Deerfield,  the  savages 
tore  the  bell  from  the  steeple  of  the  little  church 
"where  Rev.  John  Williams  preached  those  devout 
sermons.  Carrying  it  away  through  the  forests 
and  over  the  rivers,  the  clanging  of  the  hammer 
filled  them  with  superstitious  dread,  and  they 
buried  it  beside  a  wild  mountain  stream  from 
whence  years  afterward  they  carried  it  in  solemn 
procession  to  St.  Reg'is  and  mounted  it  into  the 
little  steeple  in  their  mission  church  where  it  still 
rings  the  ang'elus.  Some  one  more  correct  to  his- 
tory than  charmed  with  romance  has  discovered 
that  the  old  church  of  Deerfield  had  no  bell,  but 
we  will  ever  be  charmed  by  the  sweet  poem: 
"Then  down  from  the  burning  church  they  tore 

The  Bell  of  tuneful  sound. 
And  on  with  their  captive  train  they  bore 
That  wonderful  thing  to  their  native  shore, 

The  rude  Canadian  bound." 


f|? 


189 


XVII. 

THE   DREAM   OF   AN    INDIAN    EMPIRE    IN    THE   FAR 
WEST. 

MANY  generations  agone  the  Apostle  Eliot, 
had  preached  to  the  savages  in  Massa- 
chusetts and  later  Sampson  Occom  had 
been  raised  up  a  minister  from  the  native  wig- 
wam, to  stir  with  his  savage  eloquence  tempered 
by  Christianity  into  a  song  of  peace,  the  longing 
hearts  of  broken  tribes  who  had  gone  out  on 
their  last  war  party.  The  Pequot  and  warriors 
of  King  Philip  now  lined  up  and  received  the 
communion.  The  forest  savage  became  a  mis- 
sion Indian  and  the  remnants  of  those  children  of 
the  wilderness  who  had  greeted  our  forefathers  in 
New  England,  gathered  into  a  colony  of  brother- 
ly love  from  which  they  took  the  name  of  Broth- 
ers and  their  town  Brothertown.  Occom  having 
gone  among  the  Oneida  where  he  had  great  in- 
fluence, long  before  Williams  took  up  his  work 
there,  had  just  before  the  Revolutionary  T;var  ob- 
tained from  his  New  York  flock  a  deed  of  ten 
miles  square  of  their  lands  in  the  Mohawk  valley 
as  a  home  for  his  Brothertown  flock.  Some  of 
whom  removed  there  at  once,  but  all  of  them 
soon  after  the  close  of  the  war.  Samuel  Kirk- 
land,  laboring  among  the  Oneida,  joined  with 
Occom  to  establish  a  missionary  school  which 
was  the  founding  of  Hamilton  College. 

190 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

The  Muh  he  ka  no  ok  or  Husic  Indians  of  Mass- 
achusetts had  been  the  constant  friends  of  the 
colonists  and  aided  in  the  defense  of  the  frontier 
from  attack  by  Canada.  The  first  white  man  to 
lay  down  in  their  wigwams  and  teach  them  a 
higher  life  was  the  elder  John  Sargeant.  He  re- 
moved them  to  Stockbridge  where  Jonathan 
Edwards  preached  to  them.  Soon  as  the  Revolu- 
tion was  at  an  end,  these  civilized  tribes  wishing 
to  go  farther  from  civilization  and  whiskey,  were 
also  invited  by  the  Oneidas  to  occupy  a  portion 
of  their  lands  beside  those  given  to  the  Brother- 
towns,  and  thus  it  was  that  Oneidas,  the  Stock 
bridges  and  Brothertowns  were  all  located  about 
the  forest  clad  hills  skirting  the  beautiful  valley 
of  the  Mohawk  river. 

Emigration  was  in  the  air.  White  men  were 
moving  westward.  The  Mohawk  and  Cayugus 
tribes  of  the  Iroquois  who  had  remained  loyal  to 
the  King  in  the  war  had  removed  into  hunting 
grounds  given  them  in  Canada.  The  population 
of  whites  constantly  increased  about  the  Indian 
lands.  The  New^  England  Indians  were  ready  for 
another  migration.  Some  of  the  Munsees  or 
Delawares,  had  settled  with  the  Miamis  at  White 
River,  in  Indiana,  and  by  July  3,  1809,  extended 
a  formal  invitation  for  the  Stockbridge  and 
Brothertown  Indians  to  join  them.  As  early  as 
1808,  Thomas  Jefferson,  President  of  the  United 
States    had  carefully   guarded   a    grant  to   the 

191 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

Stockbridge  tribe  on  White  River.  Henry  Aupau- 
mut  their  principal  chief  who  had  served  in  the 
colonial  army  against  Burg^oyne  is  named  in  the 
instrument  as  "Captain."  Captain  Hendrick 
Aupaumut  was  in  the  White  River  country  from 
1810  and  later.  While  there  he  joined  the  na- 
tional forces  against  Tecumseh  and  became  an 
officer  in  the  war  of  1812.  Losing-  his  usefulness 
because  of  drunkenness,  he  was  succeeded  as  chief 
in  his  tribe  by  his  son  Solomon  Hendrick,  who 
was  a  powerful  advocate  for  emig-ration.  By 
1817,  two  families  had  reached  White  River.  The 
emig-ration  began  next  year  led  by  Deacon  John 
Matoxen  a  Mohegan,  educated  by  the  Moravains 
in  Pennsylvania,  of  whom  Rev.  Calvin  Colton 
has  said — "Than  whom  a  man  of  more  exalted 
worth  cannot  be  found  upon  earth, "  They  march 
away  over  lands,  after  first  organizing  a  church, 
and  resting  on  the  Sabbath  day,  sang  the  songs 
David  Brainard  had  translated  in  Mohegan  for 
their  fathers.  Weary  and  footsore  this  pilgrim 
band  of  psalm  singing  ex-savages  arrived  upon 
the  banks  of  the  White  River,  to  find  that  the 
government  had  purchased  their  lands  and  they 
had  no  home  in  all  that  broad  unpeopled  forest. 
Back  there  on  the  banks  of  the  Mohawk,  Solo- 
mon Hendrick,  the  young  chief,  "a  man  of  more 
than  ordinary  energy  and  talent  among  the  In- 
dians," says  Albert  G.  Ellis,  "regarding  the  lan- 
guishing condition  of  his  people  as  a  reproach  to 

192 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

the  former  name  and  g-lory  of  the  old  Mo  ke  kun 
mucks,  used  all  his  eloquence  to  cause  the  young 
men  to  rise  and  make  an  effort  to  recover  their 
name  and  character.  That  their  condition  was 
due  to  their  small  space  of  ground,  and  being 
surrounded  and  preyed  upon  by  the  whites,  from 
whose  pernicious  contact  they  w^ere  losing  their 
physical  energy  by  drunkenness.  Their  only 
hope  lay  in  moving  westward,  at  such  distance 
from  the  whites  as  to  escape  the  grog  shop  and 
whiskey."  Then  resident  missionary.  Rev.  John 
Sargeant,  the  younger,  seconded  the  views  of  the 
eloquent  young  chief.  Soon  the  whole  tribe  be- 
come anthisastic  for  removal.  The  American 
Board  of  Missions  became  interested  and  gave 
their  influence  and  aid,  through  whose  inspiration 
Rev.  Dr.  Jedediah  Morse,  the  father  of  the  in- 
ventor of  telegraphy,  became  deeply  interested. 
He  counselled  the  Indians  that  some  one  should 
go  at  once  to  the  western  tribes,  to  select  the 
proper  place  and  obtain  the  cession  of  land.  Dr. 
Morse  himself  was  selected.  The  War  Depart- 
ment was  requested  to  favor  with  money  and  in- 
fluence the  scheme,  and  appointed  Dr.  Morse  as 
commissioner  to  make  a  general  tour  of  the 
northwestern  tribes  to  form  a  better  understand- 
ing between  them  and  the  government.  He  was 
during  the  summer  of  1820  in  the  West,  spending 
three  weeks  at  Green  Bay,  where  he  preached  the 
first  protestant  sermon  in  Wisconsin.     On  his  re- 

193 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

turn  he  advised  the  Indians  to  move  to  the  Green 
Bay  region.  "You  will  never  again  be  disturbed. 
The  white  man  will  never  go  there.  He  will  nev- 
er desire  these  lands.     They  are  too  far  off." 

During  this  time  John  C.  Calhoun,  the  eloquent 
statesman  of  South  Carolina,  was  secretary  of 
war  and  favored  the  project  of  removing  the  New 
York  Indians  to  the  Wisconsin  region  to  form  an 
Indian  Territory  of  the  north  to  reduce  the  number 
of  possible  free  states.  The  state  could  not  compel 
removal,  though  public  sentiment  was  favorable. 
The  Ogden  Land  Company  owned  the  reversion- 
ary right  in  the  New  York  Indian  lands  and  were 
financially  interested  in  their  voluntary  emigra- 
tion. The  Christian  people  desired  their  removal 
from  the  influence  of  those  who  sold  them  whis- 
key. Among  the  earliest  advocates  of  westward 
emigration  was  Eleazer  Williams,  who  had  just 
made  his  famed  conquest  of  heathendom  in  the 
wilderness  settlement  of  the  Oneida.  Some  have 
supposed  he  originated  this  splendid  means  of 
preserving  this  race  of  red  men.  He  gave  it  all 
the  favor  his  eloquence  and  energy  could  com- 
mand. "Whether  Mr.  Williams  borrowed  the 
idea  from  Dr.  Morse",  says  Mr.  Ellis,  "the  Mo 
he  kun  nucks  or  the  Ogden  Land  Company  or 
whether  it  was  as  he  stoutly  maintained,  original 
in  his  own  mind,  certain  it  is,  that  some  time  in 
1818,  he  began  to  broach  cautiously  among  his  In- 
dian people  a  proposition  of  removing  all  the  In- 

194 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

dians  of  that  State,  as  well  as  many  of  those  of 
Canada,  and  the  Senecas  at  Sandusky,  to  the 
neighborhood  of  Green  Bay,  and  there  unite  them 
in  one  grand  confederacy  of  cantons,  but  all  un- 
der one  federal  head;  the  government  to  be  a 
mixture  civil,  military  and  ecclesiastic,  the  lat- 
ter to  be  pre-eminent.  Grand  imposing  and  fas- 
cinating in  the  extreme  were  the  plans  and  de- 
signs of  the  new  government,  which  he  conceived 
and  embodied,  to  lay  before  the  Indian  Chiefs. 
With  some  of  the  younger  men,  the  thing  took 
deeply;  but  with  the  other  and  more  sober  minded 
chiefs,  it  had  no  charm,  and  his  late  popularity  so 
high,  now  descended  more  quickly  than  it  had 
risen.  Seeming  to  withdraw  his  proposition,  he 
however  adroitly  plied  his  ingenuity  with  the 
younger  men  of  note  and  talent  in  the  tribe,  and 
very  soon  succeeded  in  drawing  into  his  plans 
some  four  or  five  of  the  young  hereditary  chiefs. 
Having  secured  this  point  among  the  Oneidas,  he 
visited  the  other  tribes  of  the  Six  Nations,  and 
by  holding  out  dazzling  promises  of  future  glory 
and  aggrandizement,  he  enticed  a  few  young  men 
of  each  tribe  to  enter  into  his  scheme.  He  next 
addressed  the  War  Department,  in  imitation  of 
the  Stockbridge  soliciting  its  countenance  and 
assistance  to  enable  a  delegation  of  twenty  from 
the  several  tribes  of  the  Six  Nations  to  visit  the 
western  tribes  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  a 
cession  of  the  country  for  a  new  home.     The  re- 

195 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

sponse  of  the  department  was  favorable,  having- 
doubtless  been  influenced  by  other  parties  mov- 
ing- for  the  same  objects. 

"Thus,  it  is  to  be  observed,  that  whether  singu- 
lar or  not,  there  was  a  combination  of  influences, 
dissimilar  in  motive  but  perfectly  consonant  in 
purpose,  all  operating-  at  the  same  moment  in 
urging  a  removal  of  the  New  York  Indians  to 
Green  Bay.  Each  one  of  the  parties  claimed 
the  eclat  of  originating  the  scheme;  we  incline  to 
the  belief,  however,  that  they  all,  the  Land  Com- 
pany, the  Mo-he-kun-nucks  and  Mr.  Williams, 
might,  and  probably  did  conceive  at  pretty  near 
the  same  period  of  time,  the  idea  of  a  new  home 
for  these  Indians  in  the  west,"  says  Mr.  Ellis. 
In  the  winter  of  1819  and  '20  the  application  of 
the  Oneidas,  Tuscaroras,  Senecas,  Onondagas, 
St.  Regis  and  Stockbridge  delegates  (the  latter 
acting  independent  and  separate)  was  made  to 
the  War  Department,  for  permission  to  visit  the 
Indians  in  the  neighborhood  of  Green  Bay.  The 
response  of  the  Department  was  made  by  grant- 
ing them  a  copy  of  an  order  to  the  several  Super- 
intendents of  Indian  affairs,  and  Commandants 
of  military  posts,  to  issue  to  the  delegates,  not 
exceeding  twelve  certain  amounts  of  rations, 
blankets,  powder,  lead,  &c.,  and  to  facilitate 
their  movements  on  their  journey.  The  Superin- 
tendent of  Indian  affairs  at  Detroit  was  moreover 
ordered  to  make  a  requisition,  on  the  naval  officer 

196 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

stationed  at  that  place  for  a  Q.  S.  vessel,  should 
one  be  at  that  post  fit  for  service  to  be  put  at  the 
disposal  of  the  delegates  to  take  them  across 
Lake  Huron  and  Michig-an  to  Green  Bay.  Thus 
equipped,  in  July  1820,  the  delegation  repaired 
to  Detroit,  and  paid  their  respects  to  Gen.  Cass. 
As  Superintendent  of  Indian  Affairs,  Gov.  Cass 
received  the  party  courteously;  but  it  was  soon 
apparent  that  as  Governor  of  Michigan,  the  pro- 
ject of  New  York's  quartering  her  Indian  tribes 
on  his  territory,  would  receive  no  special  en- 
couragements, beyond  the  line  of  his  duty,  in 
obedience  to  the  orders  of  his  superiors.  By  him 
the  delegates  were  furnished  with  blankets, 
powder,  lead,  rations,  etc.,  but  were  informed 
that  no  government  vessels  were  fit  for  the  ser- 
vice. They  were  further  informed,  (and  the  news 
was  astounding  enough),  that  their  proposed 
journey  to  Green  Bay,  if  for  the  purpose  of  treating 
with  the  Menomonees,  would  be  quite  unneces- 
sary, as  that  tribe  had  a  few  days  before  ceded 
to  the  United  States,  Col.  John  Bowyer,  Indian 
Agent  at  Green  Bay,  acting  as  commissioner, 
forty  miles  square  of  their  land  in  the  immediate 
vicinity  of  Fort  Howard,  the  eye  of  their  intended 
purchase,  the  key  to  the  country  they  sought — 
this  purchase  by  the  United  States  frustrated  all 
their  plans,  defeated  their  dearest  hoyies.  Cha- 
grined, but  not  discouraged,  the  delegates  re 
traced  their  steps  to  New  York."     Dr.  Morse  was 

197 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

provoked  on  learning- of  the  treaty,  saying-  it  was, 
"an  attempt  of  wicked  speculators  to  defraud 
them  of  valuable  lands."  He  explained  the  situ- 
ation to  President  Monroe,  who  rejected  the 
treaty,  without  even  submitting-  it  to  the  senate. 

The  following-  spring-,  a  new  order  was  issued 
by  the  War  Department  to  Indian  agents  and 
commandants  of  Military  forts  in  favor  of  the 
deleg-ates.  There  were  fourteen  deleg-ates,  three 
from  the  Stockbridg-es,  one  of  whom  was  the 
eloquent  Solomon  Hendrick,  four  from  the  Oneida, 
one  Onandag-o,  two  from  the  Tuscaroras,  the  emi- 
grant tribe  who  had  joined  the  Iroquois  from 
South  Carolina,  the  descendants  of  those  who 
had  tomahawked  John  Lawson,  three  from  the 
bold  Senecas  who  admitted  Red  Jacket  their 
chief,  and  the  eloquent  missionary  Eleazer  Wil- 
liams, who  represented  the  St.  Reg-is  branch  of 
the  Mohawks.  The  Munsees  had  one  deleg-ate. 
In  the  party  was  a  youngs  Oneida  chief,  "a  man  of 
the  best  morals,  and  unshaken  fidelity  as  well  as 
of  hig-h  standing-  in  the  tribe,  Cornelius  Bear,  who 
had  made  up  his  mind  to  look  with  marked  favor 
on  the  project  of  emig-ration,"  says  Mr.  Ellis.  It 
was  Bear  who  induced  Mr.  Ellis  to  become  a 
member  of  the  party  and  thereby  lead  by  an 
Oneida  Indian  he  came  to  honor  Wisconsin  by  a 
residence  of  over  fifty  years. 

Rev.  Eleazer  Williams,  who  led  the  party,  car- 
ried a  long  letter  from  Bishop  John  Hobart,  of 

198 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 


New  York,  written  to  prepare  the  Oneida  for 
removal,  and  urging-  them:  "My  children,  let 
Mr.  Williams  go  and  aid  him  all  you  can  in  the 
objects  of  the  journey."  Also  a  letter  from  Gov- 
ernor De  Witt  Clinton  of  New  York  State:  "Mr. 
Eleazer  Williams,  etc.,  being  on  an  exploring 
tour  to  the  west,  on  business  of  importance,  I  do 
hereby  recommend  them  to  the  protection,  etc., 
of  all  persons."  (May  17,  1821).  The  removal 
was  also  favored  by  Mr.  Monroe,  President  of 
the  United  States,  John  C.  Calhoun,  Secretary  of 
War,  Rev.  Dr.  Morse  and  many  other  eminent 
divines  and  statesmen. 

In  the  bright  month  of  June  the  mission  party 
crowded  the  stage  coach,  which  wound  over  the 
hills  and  through  the  flower  swept  valleys  of 
picturesque  New  York,  fanned  by  breezes  from 
Ontario  and  hearing  for  the  first  time  the  roar  of 
Niagara,  the  delegates  landed  in  the  straggling 
frontier  village  of  Buffalo,  then  containing  a 
hundred  wooden  homes  and  no  harbor.  The  new 
steamboat,  "Walk  in  the  Water,"  lay  at  Black 
Rock,  two  miles  up  the  Niagara  river,  where 
these  travelers  took  passage,  to  be  propelled  by 
her  "powerful  low  pressure  engines"  to  Detroit. 
But  she  could  not  stem  the  rapids  to  the  lake  and 
was  towed  out  by  nine  yoke  of  oxen  going  along 
the  beach  at  the  end  of  six  hundred  feet  of  rope. 
This  wonderful  steamer  was  very  long  and  slen- 
der,  and  the  next  fall   proved  unseaworthy  by 

199 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

breaking  into  pieces  in  a  storm  on  Lake  Erie. 
We  wonder  how  much  the  world  would  have  lost 
in  little  Kings,  if  the  last  of  the  Bourbons  or 
Mohawks  had  found  an  early  grave  in  the  bottom 
of  the  lake. 

In  three  days  they  arrived  at  Detroit,  "built 
on  a  single  street,"  a  mile  long,  and  Governor 
Cass  dwelling  in  a  log  house  a  mile  out  of  towm. 
He  received  the  Williams  delegates  courteously, 
but  informed  them  the  French  inhabitants  of 
Green  Bay  were  hostile  to  their  intentions.  Gov- 
ernor Cass  added  Hon.  C.  C.  Trowbridge  to  the 
party  as  special  agent  for  the  government  and 
very  soon  speeded  them  on  their  way  by  a  pas- 
sage on  the  "Walk  in  the  Water,"  which  carried 
five  companies  of  troops  to  the  up  country  posts. 
In  a  few  days  they  steamed  into  the  far  off  white 
washed  French  hamlet  of  Green  Bay,  on  the  first 
steam  boat  to  ride  upon  the  charming  Fox  river. 

Eleazer  Williams  discovered  that  Mr.  Bowyer 
the  Indian  agent  was  dead  and  the  Menomonee 
and  Winnebago  savages  not  having  been  apprised 
of  their  coming  must  be  hunted  up  and  Brought 
into  council.  By  August  18,  1821  the  date  of  the 
treaty,  they  had  a  grant  for  the  New  York  In- 
dians «^f  a  strip  of  land  four  miles  wide,  crossing 
the  Fox  river  at  Little  Chute,  running  each  way 
across  Wisconsin.  But  on  the  return  of  the  dele- 
gation in  the  fall  the  tribes  expressed  opposition 
to  emigration  and   consequently  those   who  op- 

200 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

posed  it  became  bitter  ag-ainst  Eleazer  Williams, 
who  however,  believing  he  was  doing  them  a 
great  good  by  seeking  a  home  removed  from  the 
vices  that  surrounded  them  persisted  in  his  en- 
deavors to  obtain  their  consent  to  removal. 

The  following  year  he  led  a  larger  delegation  to 
Green  Bay  under  the  inspiration  of  the  War  De- 
partment, to  which  Governor  Cass  added  the 
Rev.  John  Sargeant,  the  famous  Congregational 
missionary  of  the  Stockbridges.  Having  paid 
five  hundred  dollars  the  year  before  on  the  four 
mile  strip  they  carried  with  them  fifteen  hundred 
dollars  worth  of  goods  to  complete  the  purchase. 
The  delegation  arrived  in  the  cool  of  September 
and  took  possession  of  the  empty  house  formerly 
occupied  by  Agent  Colonel  Bowyer,  near  the 
fort.  The  native  tribes  were  assembled,  who 
came  and  camped  on  the  surrounding  plain  along 
the  river  bank  to  the  number  of  four  thousand, 
an  imposing  spectacle,  a  wild  jabbering  throng  of 
Wisconsin  savages,  of  the  Menomonee  and  Winne- 
bago natives.  Solomon  Hendrick  made  the  open- 
ing talk.  The  goods  in  complete  payment  for  the 
former  session  were  sorted  out  and  heaped  into 
two  equal  piles,  consisting  of  blankets,  calicos, 
blue  cloth,  guns,  powder,  lead,  shot,  barrels  of 
pork  and  flour,  and  a  quantity  of  tobacco.  "Not 
a  drop  of  liquor  was  seen."  The  next  day  the 
Williams  party  sought  an  increase  of  the  grant  of 
land,  but  were  refused.     "The  Winnebagoes  were 

201 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

preparing- to  leave,"  says  Mr.  Ellis,  "for  their 
fall  bunt;  but  before  starting  they  would  treat 
their  grandfathers  to  a  dance.  The  whole  tribe 
assembled  in  front  of  the  house  in  a  large  circle, 
the  dancers,  and  drummer,  the  master  of  cere- 
monies, in  the  center;  first  they  gave  the  pipe 
dance,  an  amusing  affair,  a  single  one  dancing  at 
a  time,  the  trick  of  which  seemed  to  be  to  keep 
time  with  the  drum,  and  especially  to  suspend 
action  instantaneously  with  the  cessation  of  the 
instrument,  the  dancer  to  remain  in  the  exact  atti- 
tude in  which  the  cessation  of  the  drum  caught 
him;  frequently  the  attitude  was  ridiculous  in  the 
extreme;  and  the  maintaining  it  for  a  moment, 
till  the  drum  commenced  again,  formed  an  excit- 
ing tableau.  Next  followed  the  begging  dance, 
preceded  by  a  speech  of  the  .drummer,  setting 
forth  the  extreme  want  of  some  of  their  very  old, 
poor  people,  and  asking  charity  in  their  behalf. 
The  whole  concluded  with  the  war  dance,  a  sight 
to  test  the  nerves  of  the  stoutest  heart.  The 
Winnebagoes  at  that  time,  fifty-four  years  ago, 
were  in  all  their  perfectfon  of  savage  wildness; 
two  thousand  of  them,  men  and  women,  3^oung 
and  old,  were  massed  in  a  circle,  standing  fifty 
deep;  the  whites,  army  officers,  in  the  inner  ring, 
and  the  warrior  dancers,  drummer,  and  singers 
in  the  center.  Twenty  of  their  most  stalwart 
young  warriors  took  their  places  with  not  a  thread 
of  clothing  save  the  breech  cloth;  but  all  painted 

202 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

in  most  gorgeous  colors,  and  especially  the  faces 
with  circles  of  black,  white,  red,  green  and  blue 
around  the  eyes,  giving  the  countenances  expres- 
sions indescribably  fierce  and  hideous,  all  armed 
with  tomahawks,  knives  and  spears.  At  first  the 
dance  was  slow,  to  measured  time  of  the  drum 
and  song;  for  there  were  a  hundred  singers,  with 
the  voice  of  the  drummer,  both  male  and  female, 
the  latter  prevailing  above  the  former.  Soon 
they  began  to  wax  warm,  the  countenances  as- 
sumed unearthly  expressions  of  fierceness;  their 
tread  shook  the  solid  earth,  and  their  yells  at  the 
end  of  each  cadence,  rent  the  very  heavens.  None 
could  endure  the  scene  unmoved — unappalled. 
This  tribe  at  that  period,  with  their  stalwart  men, 
Amazonian  women,  and  independent  mein,  ath- 
letic figures,  and  defiant  bearing,  can  hardly  be 
recognized  as  the  same  race,  in  the  degraded 
Oneidas,  who  are  now  seen  in  our  streets,  whose 
abject  mien,  attenuated,  shrunken  forms,  half 
starved,  naked,  destitute,  miserable  mendicants, 
half  civilized  though  they  be,  furnish  a  painful 
commentary  on  our  Indian  civilization." 

"When  the  dances  were  concluded,  a  shaking  of 
hands,  with  a  grand  "bosho,"  all  round,  the  Win- 
nebagoes  prepared  to  leave  the  ground;  and  in  an 
hour,  there  was  not  a  sign  of  one  to  be  seen.  The 
Menomonees  lingered;  they  felt  more  kindly  dis- 
posed towards  the  two  grand-fathers;  negotia- 
tions  were  soon  renewed,  resulting  finally  in  a 

203 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

further  treaty,  granting  the  New  York  Indians  a 
right  in  common  with  them,  to  all  their  country 
without  reserve;  the  which  treaty  though  no 
doubt  made  in  good  faith,  became  subsequently 
the  source  of  almost  endless  trouble,  terminating 
at  last  in  confining  the  New  York  Indians  to  two 
small  reserves;  one  for  the  Stockbridges,  Munsees 
and  Brothertowns,  on  the  east  shore  of  Lake 
Winnebago,  of  some  eight  by  twelve  miles;  and 
the  other  twelve  miles  square  on  Duck  Creek,  for 
the  Oneidas;  and  from  this  last,  the  whites  are 
just  now  moving  heaven  and  earth  to  dislodge  the 
Indians.'"  Most  of  the  Stockbridge,  Brother- 
towns,  Munsees  and  several  hundred  Oneidas  set- 
tled on  these  lands,  but  the  majority  of  the  Onei- 
das and  most  of  the  other  Iroquois  tribes  never 
favored  the  movement.  Dr.  Morse  expected  to 
locate  a  school,  by  funds  held  in  trust  by  Harvard 
and  by  Dartmouth,  but  did  not  succeed.  "To  the 
people  who  followed  Eleazer  Williams  to  what  is 
now  Wisconsin,  belong  the  credit  of  building  the 
first  Protestant  church  in  all  this  region,''  proba- 
bly at  Little  Kakalin,  where  Eleazer  Vvilliams 
built  himself  a  log  cabin  home  in  the  forest  on 
the  high  red  banks  of  the  Fox  river,  upon  a  tract 
of  five  thousand  acres  of  rich  land.  In  the  one 
great  hope  of  those  who  favored  the  isolation  of 
the  Indian  for  his  own  good  were  g-reatly  disap- 
pointed in  the  moral  results,  for  Deacon  John 
Metoxen  in  a  speech  before  the  council  in   1830 

204 


^ 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

remarked:  "You  see  brothers  the  white  man  is 
here,  he  has  brought  the  strong  water  to  sell  to 
our  people."  The  hopes  of  the  good  John  Sar- 
geant  had  not  been  realized,  who  had  written 
when  the  people  were  moving:  "Means  will  now 
be  used  to  exclude  spirituous  liquor  and  white 
heathen  from  Green  Bay." 

Eleazer  Williams  should  have  full  measure  of 
praise  in  his  laudable  endeavor  to  better  the  con- 
dition of  the  Oneida,  and  that  it  was  not  wholly 
successful,  was  no  fault  of  his.  "Surely  the  his- 
torian, the  patriot,  and  the  philanthropist  may 
well  rejoice  over  the  coming  to  Wisconsin  of  the 
New  York  Indians.  Sometime,  it  may  be,  the 
story  will  be  told  in  romance  or  in  song,"  says 
Rev.  John  Nelson  Davidson,  A.  M. 

There  was  a  contest  for  years  over  the  rights 
in  this  grant,  and  at  the  treaty  of  Little  Butte  des 
Morts  Lake,  held  at  the  foot  of  the  great  prehis- 
toric mound,  named  "Hill  of  the  Dead"  on  the 
western  bank  of  the  charming  little  lake  in  Pox 
river  and  opposite  the  present  city  of  Menasha, 
during  the  Winnebago  trouble  in  1827,  where  over 
5,000  Indians  held  a  council  with  Governor  Lewis 
Cass,  the  Menomonee  ceded  to  the  Government 
all  these  lands.  But  the  contest  for  the  rights  of 
the  New  York  Indians  continued  until  some  years 
later.  The  unpopularity  of  the  emigration  among 
the  Indians  in  New  York  and  the  open  objection 
to  it  in  Wisconsin,  reflected  on  Rev.  Eleazer  Wil- 

205 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 


liams,  and  made  him  unpopular,  though  he  had  a 
host  of  stronj^-,  influential  friends.  In  all  about 
eleven  hundred  Oneidas,  and  four  hundred  Stock- 
bridges  and  Brothertowns  came  to  Wisconsin,  a 
very  large  number  considering  the  strong  party 
opposing. 

The  Oneida  were  finally  located  on  a  tract  of 
forest  land  lying  about  five  miles  west  of  Depere 
and  ten  miles  south-west  of  Green  Bay,  of  65,400 
acres  in  extent,  watered  by  Duck  Creek  and  its 
tributaries.  Of  this  seven  thousand  acres  have 
been  cleared  and  brought  under  cultivation. 
Their  station  on  the  railway  is  Oneida,  where  is 
located  the  mission  buildings,  hospital  and  li- 
brary, and  the  government  buildings  and  schools. 
The  Oneida  have  their  own  native  trained  nurses 
and  doctor  and  Deacon;  also  saw  mill,  black- 
smith shop  and  creamery. 

They  have  long  since  abandoned  blankets  and 
feathers  and  the  tepee;  live  in  log  houses,  and 
many  of  them  in  modern  frame  or  brick  homes, 
adorned  with  pictures,  and  they  have  books; 
while  well  kept  lawns,  gardens  and  shade  trees 
are  seen  about  their  homes.  They  are  self  sup- 
porting, subsist  by  labor  of  their  own  hands,  and 
the  males  have  recently  been  granted  the  right 
of  ballot  in  Wisconsin.  During  the  civil  war 
they  sent  135  Union  volunteer  soldiers  to  the 
fronts  The  population  now  numbers  2,000  souls, 
while  often  1,000  of  these  are  in  the  grand  old 

206 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

Hobart  stone  church  at  once.  The  picture  shown 
is  representative  as  it  was  taken  with  a  camera 
with  a  large  number  of  others  at  the  annual 
Oneida  fair  and  the  people  did  not  pose  or  dress 
for  the  purpose. 

After  Rev.  Williams  resigned  as  their  Mission- 
ary in  1830,  the  Rev.  Richard  F.  Cadle  served 
them  until  1836,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  the 
good  Rev.  Solomon  Davis  who  labored  among 
them  for  eleven  years.  Rev.  P.  R.  Haff,  his 
successor  came  in  1847  and  remained  until  1852. 
He  is  still  a  revered  and  beloved  working  rector 
in  the  Episcopal  church,  now  located  at  Oshkosh. 
Then  came  Rev.  Edward  A.  Goodnough  whose 
splendid  work  of  thirty-six  years  as  their  preacher 
and  good  angel  only  ended  with  his  death.  It 
was  during  this  period  that  the  change  was  made 
of  reading  the  church  service  from  the  Mohawk 
Prayer  Book  to  the  English  Prayer  Book  in  the 
year  1870,  about  a  half  century  after  Rev.  Wil- 
liams by  his  eloquence  had  persuaded  them  from 
their  pagan  rites.  It  was  during  this  mission  also 
that  the  great  grand  stone  Hobart  church  was 
erected  in  1886,  from  which  Rev.  Goodnough  was 
buried.  The  Rev.  Solomon  S.  Burleson  then  took 
up  the  work  and  remained  to  die  in  his  labors  and 
was  buried  on  the  Reservation.  Then  came  Rev. 
F.  W.  Merrill  the  present  missionary  who  is  car- 
rying on  the  splendid  work  the  great  Protestant 
Episcopal   Church  has  pursued    so  many  years, 

207 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

begun  by  the  noble  missionary  Rev.  Eleazer  Wil- 
liams under  the  inspiration  and  patronage  of  the 
Rt.  Rev.  Bishop  John  Henry  Hobart  of  New  York. 
The  Rev.  Cornelius  Hill  a  former  chief  was  the 
first  Oneida  Indian  elevated  to  be  Deacon  and 
Interpreter. 


f|? 


208 


XVIII. 

MARRIED  TO  "THE  BELLE  OF  THE  FOX  RIVER 
VALLEY. ' ' 

WHILE  living-  in  New  England  Mr.  Williams 
had   been   disappointed   in  his   courtship 
with  some   white   maiden   of   an   austere 
puritan  home. 

When  he  came  to  Green  Bay,  he  sought  in  mar- 
riage one  of  the  beautiful  daughters  of  the  Grig- 
non  family,  which  would  have  united  the  fugitive 
from  the  Temple  to  the  descendants  of  Charles 
de  Langlade,  who  had  no  peer  in  his  defense  of 
France  in  Canada.  Over  a  century  ago  there 
came  to  Green  Bay,  almost  the  first  smith,  then  a 
young  man,  Joseph  Jourdian,  a  French  Canadian. 
He  was  an  expert  at  the  forge,  an  artist  over 
the  anvil;  could  fashion  a  razor  or  a  sword. 
Life  would  have  been  hardly  worth  the  effort 
on  the  distant  frontier  without  the  smithy,  for 
there  were  no  made  up  nails,  farm  utensils  or 
other  necessaries.  The  pipe  tomahawks  which 
he  forged  out  of  the  tip  of  a  gun  barrel  are  cele- 
brated and  bring  fancy  prices.  The  handsome 
smith  married  Margaret,  the  Creole  daughter  of 
Micheal  Gravel,  whose  wife  was  a  Menomonee 
princess.  One  son  of  Joseph  Jourdain  was  well 
known  to  the  writer.  He  was  tall,  large,  hand- 
some and  well  liked  by  all  who  knew  him.     Joseph 

209 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

Jourdain  moved  to  Menasha  in  1835,  where  he 
lived  until  his  death  in  1866,  and  was  buried  in 
Allouez  cemetery,  Green  Bay.  He  was  beloved 
by  all  his  neighbors,  as  a  kind-hearted,  generous 
man.  ("Such  was  the  parentage  of  beautiful  Mary 
Magdalene  Jourdain,  who  at  fourteen  years  of 
age,  and  a  school  girl,  was  informed  one  morning, 
March  3,  1823,  by  her  sister;  "that  she  need  not 
go  to  school  that  day,  as  she  was  to  be  married 
to  Priest  Williams  in  the  evening.  "\  There  is  a 
tradition  that  the  handsome  creole,  said  by  Mr. 
Draper  to  have  been  the  "belle  of  the  Fox  River 
valley,"  was  then  betrothed  to  another,  whom 
some  have  said  was  a  military  gentleman.  Of 
the  courtship  we  are  not  informed;  but  all  ac- 
counts agree  that  as  arranged  by  Mr.  Williams, 
with  the  mother  of  Matilda,  it  was,  "a  marriage 
without  courtship. "  In  the  evening  Mr.  Albert 
G.  Ellis  drove  Mr.  Williams  to  the  Jourdain  resi- 
dence, located  near  the  site  of  the  upper  bridge 
on  the  east  side  of  the  river,  where  he  found  Mr. 
Ebenezer  Childs,  the  wag  of  the  settlement, 
neither  of  whom  knew  what  was  to  happen. 
Judge  James  Porlier,  the  cultured  gentleman 
trader  and  Probate  Judge,  was  sent  for  over  the 
river  where  he  resided  in  the  home  later  called 
the  Tank  House.  He  drew  up  the  contract  in  the 
French  language,  and  performed  the  marriage 
service,  as  there  was  no  minister  in  the  settle- 
ment. 

210 


•t  '^ 


Mrs.  Mary  Hobart  Williams 

From  an  old  print  in  possession  ot  Josephine  Phillips  on  the  homestead. 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 


Mr.  Williams  commissioned  Mr.  Ellis  to  repair 
to  New  York  to  solicit  funds  to  establish  a  mis- 
sion school  for  the  Indians,  but  he  did  not  meet 
with  success.  Nor  would  the  school  have  met 
with  favor  among  the  Oneidas,  thej^  were  not 
quite  up  to  that.  The  school  afterward  estab- 
lished by  that  good  man,  Rev.  Cadle  was  run  for 
a  year  with  only  one  scholar. 

The  immense  tract  of  4,800  acres  held  by  Mr. 
Williams  was  laid  out  by  Mr.  Ellis  in  1826.  It 
was  at  Little  Kaukalin,  now  known  as  Little 
Rapids,  six  miles  above  De  Pere,  and  about  four- 
teen miles  by  river  above  Green  Bay.  He  resided 
in  the  log  cabin  on  this  place  as  long  as  he  re- 
mained in  the  west,  and  his  wife  resided  there 
until  her  death,  and  died  there.  The  extent  of 
the  tract  was  much  reduced,  but  the  homestead  is 
still  occupied  by  the  descendant  of  "Nan"  who 
lived  with  the  family  many  years. 

The  most  prominent  man  in  Green  Bay  when 
Rev.  Eleazer  Williams  went  there,  was  Pierre  A. 
Grignon,  a  grandson  of  Captain  Charles  de  Lang- 
lade, the  famous  frontier  scout,  ranger  and  leader 
of  the  western  savages  in  some  of  the  most  cele- 
brated battles  in  colonial  history.  Pierre  was 
head  of  the  family,  the  eldest  of  five  brothers, 
one  of  whom  was  Augustin.  The  family  owned 
nearly  all  the  land  about  the  village.  Rev. 
Eleazer  Williams  soon  made  the  acquaintance  of 
Pierre,  was  well  received  by  him,  and  invited  to 

211 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

-  ^ 

the  abundant  hospitalities  of  his  home.  He  had 
the  manners  of  a  courtier,  was  intelligent,  liberal 
and  generous,  of  a  tall  commanding'  figure,  and 
open  countenance,  which  obtained  the  respect 
and  good  will  of  strangers.  He  became  attached 
to  Rev.  Williams,  and  through  his  Indian  hunters, 
kept  his  table  well  supplied  with  game,  venison, 
fish  and  fowl.  In  the  winter  of  1823,  he  was  very- 
ill  and  sent  for  Rev.  Williams,  who  on  arrival  at 
his  home  found  him  prostrated  with  lung  fever, 
and  a  bad  cough.  The  surgeon  of  the  garrison 
had  prescribed  for  him  without  relief.  Rev.  Will- 
iams read  prayers,  and  offered  the  comforts  of 
religion,  which  he  repeated  for  several  days, 
w^hen  Mr.  Grignon  was  found  to  be  very  weak  and 
failing  rapidly,  then  he  offered  the  consolation  of 
the  Catholic  church  for  the  dying,  reading  in 
French  and  Latin  from  the  Roman  missal.  Mr. 
Grignon  sensible  of  the  kindness  of  Rev.  Williams 
and  wishing  to  do  something  for  him,  requested 
Rev.  Williams  to  express  a  wish,  when  he  re- 
minded him  of  his  old  saw  mill,  and  requested  to 
use  it  to  make  the  lumber  for  his  house.  This 
was  readily  agreed  to,  and  the  use  of  the  mill 
given  him  for  one  or  two  years.  He  died  March 
3,  1823,  and  Rev.  Eleazer  Williams  officiated  at 
the  funeral. 

Eleazer  took  his  wife  to  New  York  in  1825, 
where  her  confirmation  by  Bishop  Hobart  in  Trin- 
ity Church  excited   much  interest,    at  the   same 

212 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

time  she  was  given  the  name  Mary  Hobart.  The 
following  year  Eleazer  Williams  was  ordained  as 
deacon  by  Bishop  Hobart  at  Oneida  in  New  York 
State.  On  this  occasion  there  was  present  a 
great  many  clergymen,  among  whom  were  Rev. 
Dr.  Anthon  of  St.  Marks,  and  Rev.  Treadway  of 
Malone.  The  performance  of  the  marriage  cere- 
mony being  a  civil  service  at  that  time  in  Michi- 
gan territory,  the  civil  division  wherein  was  lo- 
cated Green  Bay,  Rev.  Eleazer  Williams  was  au- 
thorized to  perform  the  service.  He  officiated  as 
clergyman  at  the  Bay,  at  different  times  for  many 
years,  though  not  at  any  stated  and  regular  dates. 
One  day  there  landed  at  the  sleepy  post  one 
Colonel  John  McNeil,  who  woke  up  the  whole 
garrison,  and  had  them  painting  and  brushing 
and  polishing  up  the  old  barracks.  After  estab- 
lishing a  school,  he  erected  a  building  styled  the 
assembly  room  for  all  manner  of  social  gather- 
ings; "a  place  to  make  people  happy,"  he  said. 
Finding  the  Rev.  Eleazer  Williams  without  a 
place  for  meetings,  he  was  invited  to  occupy 
these  rooms  for  religious  services.  Seats  were 
provided,  notices  given,  "and  the  hall  filled  to 
its  capacity"  by  the  soldiers  and  officers  in  uni- 
form, and  citizens.  "Thus  a  full  congregation 
heard  the  word  of  truth  from  the  missionary,  and 
in  this  way  the  gospel  was  proclaimed  on  Colonel 
McNeil's  invitation,  at  his  Assembly  room  for  the 
winter,*'  says  Mr.  Ellis. 

213 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

Rev.  Williams  had  an  annual  salary  for  a  num- 
ber of  years  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars 
and  some  years  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars; 
whether  it  was  paid  or  not,  we  do  not  know;  but 
he  was  most  of  his  life  harassed  by  poverty,  both 
at  Oneida,  Green  Bay  and  St.  Reg^is.  At  one 
time  Mr.  Whitne}-,  the  rich  merchant  at  Green 
Bay  had  sold  some  of  Rev.  William's  cattle  for 
debt;  though  he  gave  him  a  good  character  to 
Bishop  Kemper  in  1834,  who  said  in  his  diary, 
Whitney  "has  at  least  kind  feelings,  toward  Wil- 
liams."    The  missionary"  seldom  lives  in  affluence. 

Rev.  Will  iams  often  traveled  to  Washington  and 
New  York  state,  to  obtain  from  the  Government 
the  money  justl}^  due  himself  and  his  reputed 
father  for  his  losses  in  the  war.  He  also  visited 
in  Buffalo.  Being  in  the  east  at  Oneida  in  1831, 
without  funds  or  support,  or  money  with  which 
to  travel  home,  he  was  given  this  letter  by  Bishop 
Onderdonk: 

Hudson,  June  13,  1831. 

"The  bearer,  the  Rev.  Eleazer  Williams,  hav- 
ing by  various  expenditures,  while  in  th^  spirit- 
ual service  of  his  brethen,  the  aborigines  of  our 
country,  and  in  consequence  of  a  long  and  severe 
indisposition,  became  seriously  embarrassed  in 
his  circumstances,  is  hereby  respectfully  and 
affectionately  commended  to  the  Christian  bene- 
ficence of  the  members  of  our  communion.  I  also 
introduce  him  to  my  clerical  brethren  generally, 

214 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

as  a  clerg-3"man  of  respectable  standing-  and  at- 
tainments, and  good,  moral  and  religious  charac- 
ter.""  "Benj.  T.  Onderdonk, 

••Bishop  of  the  diocese  of  New  York." 

Returning  to  St.  Regis  in  1835,  he  established 
a  school  and  was  appointed  schoolmaster  by 
Lord  Aylraer,  Governor  General  of  Canada;  but 
on  being  informed  by  Mr.  James  Hughes  the  In- 
dian agent,  that  he  must  instruct  the  Indian  chil- 
dren, to  listen  to  the  Catholic  priest  in  matters 
of  religion,  he  resigned  rather  than  infringe  on 
"The  liberty  of  conscience." 

By  uncertain  assistance  he  was  enabled  to  con- 
tinue the  school  until  the  following  summer.  He 
then  returned  to  his  home  in  Wisconsin. 

With  his  son  John  Lawe  Williams,  a  young  man 
of  sixteen,  on  June  22,  1841,  he  set  out  for  New 
York  state.  June  29th  they  were  at  Oneida;  from 
whence  they  journej-ed  to  Hogansburg,  and  on 
the  way  to  New  York  Cit}-,  Rev.  Williams  was 
taken  sick  at  Cohoes.  They  attended  the  cele- 
bration in  August  1841,  of  the  quarter  centur}'  of 
the  conversion  of  six  hundred  pagan  Oneida  In- 
dians to  the  Christian  faith.  This  wonderful 
event  had  been  celebrated  with  great  pomp  and 
ceremony  every  three  3'ears.  As  his  eloquence 
and  persuasive  power  had  drawn  them  from  their 
pagan  ways,  he  was  one  of  the  chief  men  at  these 
triennial  gatherings.  On  this  occasion,  before  the 
vast  concourse  of  Indians  and  whites,  he  delivered 

215 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

two    sermons    on — "The   salvation   of   sinners," 
which  have  been  published. 

October  1st,  he  was  at  Hogansburg",  a  small 
village  three  miles  from  St.  Regis,  where  he  was 
waiting  the  meeting  of  Commissioners  to  hear 
the  evidence  and  pass  upon  some  claim  to  rights 
of  the  St.  Regis  Indians  to  certain  government 
funds.  He  was  in  correspondence  with  Hon. 
"William  B.  Ogden  of  New  York,  about  some  mat- 
ters of  importance  to  himself,  when  in  his  reply, 
Mr.  Ogden  had  informed  Williams  of  the  intended 
journe}^  of  the  Prince  de  Joinville  to  Green  Bay. 
Rev.  Williams  wishing  to  see  the  Prince,  cut 
short  his  stay  at  Hogansburg,  and  with  his  son, 
began  his  immediate  return  home.  We  are  in- 
formed of  this  by  his  own  letter  sent  back  to  the 
inn  keeper  soon  after,  in  which  he  said — "It  was 
my  intention  to  remain  in  Hogansburg,  till  after 
the  meeting  of  the  commissioners,  but  I  was  hind- 
ered in  consequence  of  the  intimation  of  the 
Prince  de  Joinville  of  visiting  Green  Bay,  and  I 
was  just  in  time  to  meet  him  on  the  route." 


^(? 


216 


XIX 

ALL  THROUGH  THE  YEARS  WHEREVER  HE  WENT  THE 
GHOST  OF  THE  LOST  KING  HOVERED  ABOUT  HIM, 

WHEN  the  first  idea  of  his  identity  with 
King-  Louis  XVII  of  France,  came  to 
Eleazer  Williams  is  lost  in  obscurity.  He 
did  not  know  himself,  as  he  has  placed  it  at  dif- 
ferent periods.  Way  back  in  those  early  days  of 
his  triumph  over  the  heathen  customs  of  the 
Oneida,  about  a  year  after  Mr.  Albert  G.  Ellis 
arrived  to  be  his  companion,  in  1820,  "he  dropped 
a  few  remarks,"  says  Ellis,  "that  but  for  his 
Dauphin  claim,  thirty  years  after,  I  should  have 
forgotten.  He  was  vain  of  his  personal  appear- 
ance. One  day  after  shaving-  and  making  his 
toilet,  he  was  admiring  himself  before  the  glass, 
when  he  challenged  me  to  admire  his  fine  looks, 
especially  his  keen  eye,  rosy  cheeks  and  bright 
countenance;  and  truth  to  say,  he  was  not  bad 
looking  at  the  age  of  thirty  or  thirty-five.  'See,' 
said  he,  'is  this  the  face  of  a  savage?  How  much 
Indian  blood  is  there  ?  We  will  see  in  time,  whether 
the  Indian  or  white  man  prevails  in  this  face." 

Numerous  instances  have  been  given  in  former 
pages  of  Frenchmen  visiting  him  at  the  home  of 
his  Indian  lather,  and  of  the  conversations  he 
had  overheard  at  home  and  other  places,  all  cal- 
culated to  arouse  his  suspicion  of  something  in  his 

217 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

history  which  remained  a  mystery.  But  he  seemed 
to  have  solved  it  by  1838  or  before,  for  at  that 
time  as  mentioned  in  another  j^lace,  he  entered 
the  newspaper  office  of  George  H.  Haskins,  editor 
of  "the  Buffalo  Express,"  in  Buffalo,  New  York, 
and  "confided  to  him  under  seal  of  most  profound 
secrecy,  that  he,  Eleazer,  was  the  lost  Dauphin 
of  France,  mentioned  his  early  idiocy,  his  fall  in 
Lake  George,  and  miraculous  restoration  of  mem- 
ory." 

Then  came  the  French  officers  tramping  into 
Caughnawaga  from  Montreal,  met  him  at  the 
wigwam  of  the  ancient  squaw,  he  owned  as 
mother,  "and  told  him  that  he  looked  like  the 
Bourbons,  that  he  was  the  same  age  the  Dauphin 
would  have  been,  and  that  perhaps  he  was  the 
Dauphin  himself. "  And  so  all  through  the  years, 
wherever  he  went,  the  ghost  of  the  Lost  King 
hovered  about  him. 

Now  came  the  visit  of  the  Prince  de  Joinville 
in  the  cool  of  autumn,  October  1841. 

Napolean  who  had  ridden  on  the  last  waves  of 
the  Revolution  into  power  made  a  wreck  of  iSurope 
and  established  a  court  outshining  in  sjDlendor 
and  etiquette,  all  the  ancient  courts  of  Europe, 
saw  his  star  set  when  the  Russian  and  German 
armies  entered  Paris,  ten  years  later.  Emperor 
Alexander  then  permitted  the  French  to  choose 
their  own  ruler,  and  the  Senate  decreed  France 
to  be  an   hereditary   monarchy,    and   called  the 

218 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

eldest  surviving-  brother  of  Louis  XVI  to  the 
throne.  The  entry  of  Louis  XVIII  into  the  Tuiler- 
ies  met  with  universal  approval ;  but  in  exile  he,  had 
"nothing-  remembered,  and  nothing-  forgotten." 
From  the  ver}^  first  it  was  intended  to  restore  the 
monarchy  with  all  its  former  absolutism,  which 
was  unpopular.  With  the  return  of  the  royal 
party  came  Madam  Royal,  sister  of  the  Lost 
King-,  now  the  Duchese  d'  Angouleme,  who  was 
so  effected  on  entering  the  palace  again  after 
twent3'-two  3'ears,  that  she  fainted.  What  re- 
mained of  the  Temple  was  demolished  in  1811; 
but  a  weeping  willow  in  the  garden,  planted  in 
1814  by  the  Duchese  of  Angouleme,  marks  the 
spot  to-day  where  the  tower  stood. 

A  funeral  service  took  place  at  the  ancient 
Cathedral  of  Notre  Dame  in  memory  of  Louis 
XVI,  Marie  Antoinette  and  Princess  Elizabeth, 
an  imposing  public  ceremony  of  deep  solemnity, 
attended  by  the  members  of  the  royal  family,  all 
the  monarchs,  generals  and  ministers  of  state  in 
Paris.  Some  months  later,  the  remains  of  the 
royal  martyrs  were  exhumed  and  ceremoniously 
interred  at  St.  Denis,  that  mausoleum  of  all  the 
Kings  of  France.  Wh}'-  was  not  the  Lost  King 
Louis  XVII  included  in  this  imposing  funeral  serv- 
ice? Also  in  this  removal  to  St.  Denis;  and  why 
was  his  name  not  placed  on  the  monument  erected 
to  these  royal  victims  of  the  Revolution?  In  a 
few  months  Napoleon  had  landed  from  Elba,  the 

219 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

Bourbons  bundled  out  of  Paris  and  "Napoleon 
entered  the  Tuileries;  and  such  was  the  enthusi- 
asm of  his  welcome,  that  he  was  literally  borne  by 
the  crowd  up  the  staircase  of  the  palace,  with 
cries  of  'vive  le  Emperor, '  yet  in  a  hundred  days 
he  met  his  Waterloo.  Wellington  and  Blucher 
made  their  triumphal  entry  into  Paris.  Louis 
XVIII  returned  to  the  Tuileries,  was  unpopular, 
and  on  his  death  after  a  reign  of  ten  3'ears,  the 
Duke  d'Artois,  his  brother,  became  King  Charles 
X.  He  was  too  much  a  Bourbon  to  be  poj^ular.  In 
1830,  after  a  stormy  reign  of  six  years,  an  insurrec- 
tion in  Paris  at  which  eight  thousand  people  were 
killed,  compelled  him  to  flee  across  the  channel. 
The  infamous  Duke  of  Orleans,  originator  of  the 
Revolution,  cousin  of  the  King,  and  who  as  mem- 
ber of  the  Assembly  voted  for  "death,"  in  the 
trial  of  the  King,  had  by  his  noble  wife,  the  only 
daughter  of  the  grand  old  nobleman,  the  Duke  of 
Penthievre,  a  family  of  whom  the  eldest  son, 
Louis  Philippe,  Duke  de  Chartres,  fought  under 
Demourier  in  the  Revolutionary  army,  and  escaped 
into  Sw^itzerland,  where  he  taught  school;  ,after- 
w^ards  traveled  in  America  and  lived  in  Brooklyn. 
There  is  a  story  that  he  was  a  changeling,  the 
son  of  low  birth.  He  married  Princess  Marie 
Amelie,  daughter  of  a  sister  of  Marie  Antoinette, 
who  as  a  child  had  wept  for  the  death  of  the  Dau- 
phin in  the  Temple,  and  who  was  to  have  married 
him  if  he  lived. 

220 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 


He  returned  to  France  in  the  train  of  the  royal- 
ists when  Napoleon  abdicated  in  1814,  as  Duke  of 
Orleans,  recovered^his  property  and  lived  with 
his  family  at  the  beautiful  chateau  of  Neuilly, 
near  Paris. 

The  provisional^'g-overnment  which  rose  out  of 
the  insurrection^which  drove  King  Charles  out  of 
France  was  composed  of  the  veteran  revolution- 
ists Lafayette,  Lafitte,  the  rich  banker,  Thiers, 
the  literary  historian  and  Talleyrand  the  diplo- 
mat. They  determined  to  bring-  Louis  Philippe  to 
the  throne,  but  the  envoy  sent  to  inform,  could 
not  find  him.  At:midnig-ht  he  entered  Paris  on 
foot  in  plain  clothes,  having:  clambered  over  the 
barricades.  First  made  Lieutenant  General  of 
the  King-dom,  he  was  elected  by  the  bourg-eoisie 
or  trades  men  and  merchants,  as  King.  "He  was 
short-and  stout.  His  head  was  shaped  like  a 
pear  and  surmounted  by  an  elaborate  brown  wig, " 
to  cover  his  gray  hair.  He  was  not  majestic. 
He  was  not  popular,  nor  an  ideal  Frenchman,  but 
of  the  small  groser  tj^pe.  He  was  anxious  to  marry 
off  his  children  to  prosperous  and  rich  thrones. 
There  were  many  occasions  to  cause  him  to  study 
the  means  to  make  his  throne  more  secure.  In 
fact  he  ^was  driven  into  exile  after  reigning 
eighteen  years  as  the  citizen  King.  He  had  not 
favored  Lafayette,  after  he  became  King  and 
Talleyrand  who  when  signing  his  constitution 
had  remarked  that  it  was  the  thirteenth   he  had 


221 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

signed,  now  an  old  man  died  in  a  few  years.  The 
masses  beg-an  to  clamor  again  against  the  classes 
"as  guilty  of  diabolical  selfishness  and  systematic 
robbery  of  the  poor. "  The  gay  Duchess  de  Berri, 
with  several  friends  landed  near  Marseilles  in 
1832,  with  the  ambitious  design  of  placing  her 
son,  the  Duke  de  Bordeaux,  grandson  of  Charles 
X.  on  the  throne.  After  many  adventures  she 
was  caught  and  imprisoned  in  the  citadel  of 
Blaye.  Louis  Napoleon  impelled  by  fancies  re- 
garding his  "destiny,"  resolved  to  make  an  at- 
tempt to  recover  the  Empire,  appeared  at  Stros- 
burg  in  1836,  and  endeavored  to  seduce  the  soldiers 
to  rally  to  his  standard,  but  having  failed  he  was 
deported.  Again  he  made  the  attempt,  was  seized 
and  imprisoned  in  the  fortress  of  Ham. 

Louis  Philippe  was  shot  at  thirteen  times;  but 
escaped  assassination.  He  is  said  to  have  ridden 
in  a  steel  lined  carriage  with  his  back  to  the 
horses.  Though  there  was  comparative  peace 
abroad,  "He  had,"  says  William  Chambers, 
"what  might  be  called  a  continual  battle  for 
existence,  which  rendered  it  imperative  ofi  him 
to  adopt  those  stringent  and  repressive  measures, 
which  supplied  to  his  indefatigable  adversaries 
renewed  grounds  of  reproach  and  vituperation." 

Such  being  the  history  of  his  reign,  one  can 
readily  believe  that  he  would  be  justified  in  pro- 
posing terms  to  all  those  who  laid  claim  to  rights 
in  the  crown,  which  he  must  feel  he  held,  but  by 

222 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

accident.  The  story  of  Eleazer  Williams  which 
was  known  long  before  1841,  may  have  come  to 
his  notice.  He  would  not  despise  it.  Talleyrand 
who  expired  in  1838,  had  left  secret  memoirs. 
Barras,  whose  name  has  been  so  long  connected 
with  the  disappearance  of  the  Little  King,  had 
died  the  year  before  Louis  Philippe  became  King, 
and  Barras  had  left  secret  memoirs  of  his  time, 
which  had  been  seized  by  the  government,  and 
never  published  until  1895.  The  archives  were 
accessible  to  the  King,  and  doubtless  revealed 
the  unknown  history  of  Louis  XVII.  There  was 
every  reason  why  King  Louis  Philippe  should 
seek  an  arrangement  with  Eleazer  Williams,  who 
was  making  claim  to  the  throne,  even  if  his  story 
was  a  myth,  for  he  thereby  removed  any  trouble 
which  it  might  bring  to  his  unstable  position. 


•^t(? 


223 


XX 


THE   PRINCE   DE  JOINVILLE   CROSSES   AMERICA   TO 
INTERVIEW   ELEAZER  WILLIAMS. 

THE  son  of  King  Louis  Philippe  would  be  the 
proper  person  to  conduct  the  negotiation  as 
it  was  strictly  a  family  affair,  and  being  in 
command  of  a  ship,  the  Prince  could  sail  to  New 
York  or  Boston  with  his  "Belle  Paule, "  with  her 
five  hundred  sailors  and  his  staff,  without  excit- 
ing any  suspicion.  This  he  did  do.  The  Prince 
de  Joinville,  third  son  of  Louis  Philippe  was  now 
twenty-three  j^ears  of  age,  "slender,  tall,  dark,  a 
very  naval  appearing  man." 

In  the  autumn  of  1841,  when  Mrs.  Elizabeth 
Wormeley  Latimer  was  a  girl  of  nineteen,  she 
came  out  to  Boston  to  remain  the  winter  with  the 
family  of  George  Ticknor,  and  go  into  society 
with  their  daughter  a  debutante.  Some  weeks 
before  Christmas  it  was  announced  that  the  Prince 
de  Joinville,  who,  after  bringing  back  the  body 
of  Napoleon,  the  year  before  from  St.  Helena  to 
Paris,  had  brought  his  frigate  the  Belle  Paule  to 
America,  was  coming  to  Boston.  A  great  reception 
and  ball  was  to  be  given  for  him  and  his  officers 
in  the  historic  Faneuil  Hall,  and  the  young  girls 
in  the  smart  set  were  elated  at  the  prospect. 
The  daj^  fixed  upon  drew  near.     The  officers  of 

224 


"^  '-m 


Prim  i    i  'I   j    ,  ■•  /ille 
Son  of  King  Louis  Philippe,  sent  to  see  Eleazer  Williams  at  Green  Bay. 


PRIXCE      OR      CREOLE 

the  Belle  Paule  assembled  in  Boston,  but  there 
was  no  Prince,  nor  any  news  of  him.  Where 
could  he  be?  The  officers  were  questioned,  said 
they  "believed  he  was  in  western  New  York,  near 
the  frontier  of  Canada."  There  was  mystery  in 
his  movements,  which  were  kept  secret  from  the 
public  and  his  officers.  The  day  before  the  ball 
and  still  no  Prince.  How  could  they  have  the 
ball  without  him?  Expectation  rose  hig^h  among 
the  young  ladies.  On  the  morning  of  the  ball, 
however,  the}"  heard  the  Prince  had  arrived. 

It  was  a  most  beautiful  reception,  with  tricolor 
decorations,  which  still  lingers  in  the  memory  of 
the  happy  participants.  But  none  discovered 
until  the  appearance  of  Putnam's  with  the  "Bour- 
bon among  us"  story,  the  whereabouts  of  the 
Prince  while  they  waited  in  Boston  for  his  return. 
He  was  off  across  America  to  interview  Eleazer 
Williams. 

After  the  celebration  of  his  early  triumph  in 
missionar}'  labor  at  Oneida,  Rev.  Williams, 
journeyed  to  St.  Regis,  to  see  the  aged  Indian 
chief  and  squaw  whom  he  had  supposed  were  his 
parents.  Here  he  tarried  until  in  October,  then 
began  his  return  to  his  wife  and  children  on  the 
bank  of  the  Fox  river  above  Green  'Bd.y  in  Wis- 
consin. He  crossed  New  York  state  by  stage, 
took  a  Chicago  boat  at  Buffalo,  which  landed  him 
at  Mackinac.  Before  leaving  St.  Regis  he  had 
learned  of  the  arrival  of  the  Prince  de  Join vi  He 

225 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

in  America.  Of  this  he  says:  "One  of  the  first 
questions  that  he  asked  on  his  arrival  in  New 
York  was,  whether  there  was  such  a  person 
known  as  Eleazer  Williams,  among  the  Indians 
in  the  northern  part  of  the  state;  and  after  some 
inquiries,  in  different  quarters,  he  was  told  that 
there  was  such  a  person,  who  was  at  that  time  a 
Missionary  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  church, 
at  Green  Bay,  Wisconsin,  and  he  was  advised  to 
apply  for  further  information  to  some  prominent 
members  of  the  church  in  the  city.  He  accord- 
ingly applied  to  Mr.  Thomas  Ludlow  Ogden,  who 
at  the  Prince's  request,  wrote  to  me,  stating-  that 
the  Prince  was  then  in  the  country,  and  before 
his  return  to  France,  would  be  haj)py  to  have  an 
interview  with  me.  I  replied  to  Mr.  Ogden,  that 
I  should  be  exceedingly  happy  to  see  the  Prince 
at  any  time.  I  was  much  surprised  with  his  com- 
munication; but  supposed  however,  that  as  I  had 
resided  a  long  time  in  the  west,  and  had  been 
cbaplin  to  Gen.  Taylor,  he  might  desire  some  lo- 
cal information  which  I  could  give  him  as  readily 
as  most  men."  The  Prince  leaving  most  of  his 
companions  at  Albany  had  taken  stage  across 
the  whole  state  of  New  York  to  Buffalo;  where 
he  took  steamer  to  Green  Bay;  on  a  voyage  across 
Lake  Erie,  passed  Detroit  through  the  St.  Croix 
river  and  lake;  then  over  Lake  Huron  to  the  strait 
of  Mackinac,  landing  at  the  old  fort  of  Mackinac 
on   the  Island,    thence   over   the  head   of   Lake 

226 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

Michigfan  to  Green  Bay,  over  the  waters  of  which 
he  arrived  at  the  villag'e,  and  put  up  at  the  Astor 
House.  Of  this  journey  the  Prince  has  furnished 
the  plausable  explanation  in  his  Memoirs:  "I was 
anxious  to  go,  via.  the  Great  Lakes  to  Green 
Bay,  on  Lake  Michigan,  and  there  starting  from 
Mackinac,  the  old  Indian  Michillimacinac,  to  fol- 
low up  the  track  of  our  ofl&cers,  soldiers  and  mis- 
sionaries who  pushed  on  till  they  discovered  the 
Mississijjpi. "  He  denies  afterwards  that  he  made 
the  journey  to  see  Eleazer  Williams.  But  the 
reason  he  gives  for  the  journey  is  singular,  in 
view  of  the  historical  fact  that  the  French  "offic- 
ers, soldiers  and  missionaries"  voyaged  on  the 
Ottawa  river  in  Canada,  to  the  upper  Lake  Huron 
and  thence  to  the  strait  of  Mackinac,  not  over 
New  York  state,  or  Lake  Erie  or  Huron.  Also 
that  the  Michillimackinac  of  those  "soldiers  and 
missionaries,"  was  on  the  mainland  in  Michigan 
on  Lake  Michigan,  not  on  the  Island  where  he 
landed,  but  eight  miles  distant.  Also  that  the 
Astor  House  at  Green  Bay  where  he  lodged  and 
the  home  of  Captain  John  McCart}'  where  he 
slept,  were  across  the  river  from  the  old  French 
Fort,  and  the  McCarty  lodge  was  fourteen  miles 
away  from  the  old  French  fort,  or  six  miles  from 
DePere,  the  only  historical  scenes.  Herce  the 
Prince  journeyed  a  good  many  hundred  miles  to 
see  the  sites  which  he  did  not  seek  to  see  when  he 
arrived.     If  his  purpose   is  to  be  credited,   it  is 

227 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

very  strang-e  that  after  an  historical  pilgrimag-e 
of  thousands  of  miles,  he  had  not  set  his  patent 
leather  boot  on  a  single  spot  of  earth  made  sacred 
by  that  noble  army  of  discoverers,  missionaries  or 
soldiers  of  Prance,  who  blazed  the  pathway  to 
the  west.  That  the  Prince  did  seek  to  meet 
Eleazer  Williams,  is  verified  by  Captain  Shook 
of  the  Columbus,  on  which  he  voyaged  to  the 
Island  of  Mackinac  of  whom  he  requested  inform- 
ation of  Eleazer  Williams. 

Mr.  George  T.  Raymond,  editor  of  "Northern 
Light"  of  Hallowell,  Maine,  wrote  Putnams — "I 
joined  the  Joinville  party  in  New  York,  traveled 
with  it  to  Green  Bay,  and  during  several  conversa- 
tions with  the  Prince,  heard  him  express  a  most 
particular  anxiety  to  find  out  this  Mr.  Williams, 
and  have  an  interview  with  him."  Mr.  James  O. 
Brayman,  one  of  the  editors  of  the  "Buffalo 
Courier"  wrote  to  Rev.  Dr.  John  Hanson:  "In 
the  fall  of  1841,  I  took  steamboat  at  Cleveland 
for  Detroit.  The  Prince  de  Joinville  and  party 
were  on  board,  having  come  up  from  Buffalo. 
There  were  also  several  gentlemen  of  French  des- 
cent from  Detroit,  aboard.  In  the  evening,  when 
sitting-  in  the  cabin,  the  prince  conversed  freely 
— part  of  the  time  in  French,  part  in  English. 
While  conversing-  with  the  late  Col.  Beaubien,  he 
made  the  inquiries  concerning  Mr.  Williams,  and 
spoke  of  his  intention  of  visiting  him  at  Green 
Bay.     Col.  B.,  who  had,  I  believe,  been  an  Indian 

228 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

trader,  knew  Mr.  W.  well,  personally  or  by  repu- 
tation, and  replied  to  the  Prince  as  to  his  where- 
abouts and  occupation.  The  Prince  inquired  as 
to  his  personal  bearing-,  and  asked  various  gen- 
eral questions  concerning  him,  and  had  the 
aj^pearance  of  considerable  earnestness  in  his 
inquiries.  The  conversation  continued  some  min- 
utes, and  concluded  by  the  Prince  remarking:  'I 
shall  see  him  before  I  return.'  This  matter  has 
slept  in  my  memory,  and  having  been  called  up 
b}'  the  late  discussions,  is  not  very  distinct  as  to 
particulars;  the  general  features,  however,  are 
as  fresh  in  m}'  mind  as  an  occurrence  of  yesterday. 
I  have  a  relative  who  was  some  years  a  teacher 
in  the  Indian  Mission  school  at  Green  Bay.  I 
have  heard  her  relate  the  circumstances  of  the 
visit  of  the  Prince  de  Joinville  to  Mr.  "Williams 
as  something  involving  much  of  mystery,  and 
that  it,  for  a  while,  produced  a  marked  and  ob- 
servable change  in  Mr.  W. 's  conduct.  He  ap- 
peared abstracted  at  times,  and  excited  as  by 
some  great  emotion.  She  remarked  that  the 
Prince  treated  him  with  more  than  ordinary  def- 
erence and  consideration,  for  which  she  could  not 
account  at  the  time." 

Hon.  Theodore  Conkey  of  Appleton,  also  came 
as  a  young  man  of  twenty-two  from  Buffalo  to 
the  Ba}'  with  the  Prince  and  heard  him  ask  for 
Rev.  Williams.     (See  appendix  IV.) 

Rev.    Eleazer   Williams   had   kept  a  diary   of 

229 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

everything-  which  happened  to  him  since  the  year 
1808,  from  which,  with  the  interview  taken  down 
by  Rev.  Dr.  John  Hanson,  the  material  of  the 
narrative  of  the  meeting  with  the  Prince  is 
obtained.  Rev.  Williams,  with  his  son,  John 
Lawe  Williams  on  their  journey  toward  home,  by 
the  steamer  from  Buffalo  bound  for  Chicago,  had 
arrived  at  Mackinac  Island  at  two  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon  of  Saturday,  October  16,  where  they 
remained  to  await  the  arrival  of  the  steamer 
from  Buffalo  to  Green  Bay.  His  son  was  indis- 
posed for  which  reason  they  were  pleased  to 
land.  Rev.  Williams  visited  Rev.  Coit,  pastor  of 
the  Congregational  church,  who  had  been  mis- 
sionary for  a  long  time  among  the  Chippewa  In- 
dians. It  was  arranged  to  have  divine  service 
the  next  day  which  was  Sunday  at  the  Presby- 
terian meeting  house,  and  that  Rev.  Williams 
should  officiate  in  the  morning. 

At  the  service  Sunday  morning,  "all  the  gentle- 
men of  the  garrison,  the  soldiers  and  the  citizens 
of  the  place  were  in  attendance."  "Two  soldiers 
called  and  asked  for  prayer  books.  I  Was  only 
able  to  give  them  one." 

Vessels  which  had  recently  arrived  announced 
the  speedy  arrival  of  the  Prince  de  Joinville. 
The  regular  steamer  for  Green  Bay  came  into 
port  on  Mondaj^  (October  18)  at  twelve  o'clock. 
"His  royal  Highness,  Prince  de  Joinville  and  his 
suit   were   among   the  passengers."     Public   ex- 

230 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

pectation  was  on  tiptoe  and  crowds  were  at  the 
wharf.  The  steamer  at  length  came  in  sight, 
salutes  were  fired  and  answered,  the  colors  run 
up,  and  she  came  into  port  in  fine  style.  Imme- 
diatel}'  she  touched,  the  Prince  and  his  retinue 
came  on  shore  and  went  out  some  little  distance 
from  the  town,  perhaps  half  a  mile,  to  visit  some 
natural  curiosities  in  the  neighborhood — the 
Sugarloaf  Rock  and  the  Arch  Rock.  The  steamer 
awaited  their  return.  During  their  absence  I  was 
standing  on  the  wharf  among  the  crowd,  when 
Capt.  John  Shook,  (who  confirmed  the  statement) 
came  up  to  me  and  asked  whether  I  was  going  on 
to  Green  Bay,  adding  that  the  Prince  de  Joinville 
had  made  inquiries  of  him  two  or  three  times 
since  leaving  Buffalo,  concerning  a  Rev.  Air. 
Williams,  the  missionary  to  the  Indians  at  Green 
Bay,  and  that  he  had  told  the  Prince  he  knew 
such  a  person,  referring  to  me,  whom  he  supposed 
was  the  man  he  meant.  I  replied  to  the  captain 
he  must  mean  another  person,  as  I  do  not  know 
the  Prince.  Soon  after  the  Prince  and  his  suite 
arrived  and  went  on  board.  I  did  the  same,  and 
the  steamer  put  to  sea.  It  was,  I  think,  about 
2  o'clock  when  we  left  Mackinac.  When  we 
were  fairly  on  the  water,  the  captain  came  to  me 
and  said,  'The  Prince,  Mr.  Williams,  requests  me 
to  say  to  you  that  he  desires  to  have  an  interview 
with  you,  and  will  be  happ}"  either  to  have  j^ou 
come  to   him,  or  allow  me  to  introduce  him  to 

231 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

you.'  'Present  my  compliments  to  the  Prince,'  I 
said,  and  say  that  I  put  myself  entirely  at  his 
disposal,  and  will  be  proud  to  accede  to  what- 
ever may  be  his  wishes  in  the  matter. '  The  Cap- 
tain again  retired,  and  soon  returned  bringing 
the  Prince  de  Joinville  with  him.  I  was  sitting 
at  the  time,  on  a  barrel.  The  Prince  not  only 
started  with  evident  and  involuntary  surprise  and 
amazement  when  he  saw  me,  but  there  was  a 
great  agitation  in  his  face  and  manner — a  slight 
paleness  and  quivering  of  the  lip — which  I  could 
not  help  remarking  at  the  time,  but  which  struck 
me  more  forcibly  afterwards  in  connection  with 
the  whole  train  of  circumstances,  and  by  contrast 
with  his  usual.self-possessed  manner.  He  grasped 
both  of  his  hands  with  mine,  earnestly  and  re- 
spectfully, accompanied  with  earnest  and  cheer- 
ing gratulations  of  his  having  met  me,  and  drew 
me  immediately  into  conversation.  The  atten- 
tion which  he  paid  me  seemed  to  astonish,  not 
only  myself  and  the  passengers,  but  also  the 
Prince's  retinue." 

"  'Amazing  sight!"  he  said.  'It  is  what  I  have 
wished  to  see  for  this  long  time.  I  trust  I  shall 
not  be  intruding  too  much  on  3'our  patience  were 
I  to  ask  some  questions  of  your  past  and  present 
life  among  the  Indians. '  His  eyes  were  intently 
fixed  on  me,  eyeing  my  person  from  head  to  foot. ' ' 

"At  dinner  time  there  was  a  separate  table  laid 
for  the  Prince  and  his  companions,  and  he  invited 

232 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 


me  to  sit  with  them  and  offered  me  the  seat  of 
honor  by  his  side.  But  I  was  a  little  abashed  by 
the  attentions  of  the  Prince,  and  there  was  an 
American  officer  who  had  attached  himself  to  the 
party  and  behaved  in  an  obtrusive  and  unbecom- 
ing- manner,  which  seemed  to  annoy  them,  and 
indeed  one  of  the  Prince's  companions  had  ex- 
pressed to  me  his  disgust  at  his  behavior.  So  I 
thought  I  would  keep  out  of  the  circle,  and  begged 
the  Prince  to  excuse  me,  and  permit  me  to  dine 
at  the  ordinary  table  with  the  passengers,  which 
accordingly  I  did.  After  dinner  the  conversation 
turned  between  us  on  the  first  French  settlements 
in  America,  the  valor  and  enterprise  of  the  early 
adventurers,  and  the  loss  of  Canada  to  France, 
at  which  the  Prince  expressed  deep  regret. 

In  the  course  of  his  remarks,  though  in  what 
connection  I  cannot  say,  he  told  me  that  he  left 
his  suite  at  Albany,  took  a  private  conveyance 
and  went  to  the  head  of  Lake  Georg-e.  He  was 
very  copious  and  fluent  in  speech,  and  I  was  sur- 
prised at  the  good  English  which  he  spoke — a 
little  broken  indeed,  like  mine,  but  still  very  in- 
telligible. We  continued  talking-  late  into  the 
night,  reclining  in  the  cabin,  on  the  cushions  in 
the  stern  of  the  boat.  When  we  retired  to  rest, 
the  Prince  lay  on  the  locker  and  I  in  the  first  berth 
next  to  it.  The  next  day  the  steamer  did  not 
arrive  at  Green  Bay  until  about  3  o'clock,  and 
during  most  of  the  time  we  were  in  conversation. 

233 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

Looking-  back  thoug-htfuUy  upon  what  was  said, 
I  can  now  i)erceive  that  tlie  Prince  was  gradually 
preparing-  ray  mind  for  what  was  to  come  at  last, 
although  then  the  different  subjects  seemed  to 
arise  naturally  enough. 

This  afternoon  the  Prince  did  wish  to  take 
my  son  with  him  to  France  for  an  education.  In 
connection  with  this  he  was  informed  that  we  had 
an  infant  who  had  not  yet  received  baptism.  He 
readily  consented  to  stand  as  a  godfather,  and 
would  give  the  name  of  his  mother  to  the  child. 
But  alas!  in  my  first  landing,  I  received  the  mel- 
ancholy intelligence  that  the  lovely  babe  was 
in  her  grave,  buried  on  the  preceding  Sunday; 
service  performed  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Porter  of  the 
Congregationalist  Church.  When  the  news  was 
communicated  to  the  Prince  he  appeared  to  sym- 
pathize with  me,  and  remarked,  taking  me  by  the 
hand,  "Descendant  of  a  suffering  race,  may  you 
be  supported  in  this  affliction. "  At  three  o'clock, 
Tuesday,  October  19th,  the  boat  reached  Green 
Bay,  and  came  proudly  up  to  the  Astor  ware- 
house and  dock,  near  the  present  upper  bridge. 
The  Prince  said  that  I  would  oblige  him  by 
accompanying  him  to  his  hotel,  and  taking  up  my 
quarters  at  the  Astor  House.  I  begged  to  be 
excused,  as  I  wished  to  go  to  the  house  of  my 
father-in-law.  He  replied  that  he  had  some  mat- 
ters of  great  importance  to  speak  to  me  about, 
and  as  he  could  not  stay  long  at  Green  Bay,  but 

234 


PRIXCE      OR      CREOLE 

would  take  his  dei^arture  the  next  day,  or  the  day 
after,  he  wished  I  would  comply  with  his  request. 
As  there  was  some  excitement  consequent  on  the 
Prince's  arrival,  and  a  great  number  of  i3ersons 
were  at  the  Astor  House  waiting  to  see  him,  I 
thought  I  would  take  advantage  of  the  confusion 
to  go  to  my  father-in-law's  (Joseph  Jourdain)  and 
promised  to  return  in  the  evening,  when  he  would 
be  more  private." 

Green  Baj^  at  this  date  was  a  village  of  about 
one  thousand  inhabitants  living  in  various  condi- 
tioned houses  strung  along  the  river  front  for 
three  miles,  and  known  as  Menomineeville, 
Shantytown,  Astor,  and  Navarino,  all  promoted 
under  different  interests  and  in  sharp  contest  for 
the  final  location  of  a  future  metropolis.  On  the 
west  side  of  the  river  there  were  only  a  half 
dozen  houses,  beside  the  almost  abandoned  bar- 
racks of  old  Fort  Howard,  just  partially  brought 
to  life  by  Major  Shaler,  who  with  some  oflQcers  had 
only  a  short  time  before,  scattered  the  bats  and 
swept  awa}-  the  cobwebs,  preparatory  to  assuming 
residence  and  command.  Astor  the  central  one 
of  these  rival  villages,  promoted  by  the  company 
of  which  John  Jacob 'Astor  was  the  principal 
proprietor,  had  a  large  warehouse  and  boat  land- 
ing, and  near  by  on  the  corner  of  the  present 
Adams  and  Mason  street  stood  the  Astor  Hotel, 
all  nearly  new  having  been  completed  only  three 
years  before.     This  celebrated  house,  was  a  three 

235 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

story  frame  building',  "furnished  elegantly  for 
those  days,"  "considered  the  finest  hotel  this  side 
of  Detroit." 

News  of  the  expected  visit  of  the  Prince  had  by 
some  means  preceeded  him,  and  the  villagers  put 
on  their  dress  coats  and  white  aprons,  and 
crowded  to  the  river  front  to  catch  sight  of  the 
son  of  a  king.  The  old  settler  still  relates  with 
great  glee,  how  a  number  of  the  important  peo- 
ple suddenly  discovered  they  must  take  their  sup- 
per that  evening  at  the  Astor  House,  and  of  their 
disappointment  when  they  did  not  have  the  Prince 
for  table  guest,  as  he  had  ordered  his  dinner  in 
his  rooms.  "Quite  an  excitement  was  raised  in 
our  quiet  town  by  the  visit  of  the  Prince  de  Join- 
ville  and  suite,"  says  Mrs.  Mary  Irwin  Mitchell. 
"From that  timebeganthequestionof  Rev.  Eleazer 
Williams  being  the  lost  Dauphin." 

"On  my  return  I  found  the  Prince  alone  with 
the  exception  of  one  attendant,  whom  he  dis- 
missed, ' '  continues  the  narrative  of  Rev.  Williams. 
"The  gentlemen  of  his  party  were  in  an  adjoining 
room  laughing  and  carousing,  and  I  coUld  dis- 
tinctly hear  them  during  my  interview  with  the 
Prince.  He  opened  the  conversation  by  saying 
that  he  had  a  communication  to  make  to  me  of  a 
very  serious  nature  as  concerned  himself,  and  of 
the  last  importance  to  me,  that  it  was  one  in 
which  no  others  were  interested,  and  therefore 
before  proceeding  further,  he  wished   to  obtain 

236 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

some  pledg-e  of  secrecy,  some  promise,  that  I 
would  not  reveal  to  anyone  what  he  was  going  to 
say.  I  demurred  to  any  such  conditions  being 
imposed  previous  to  my  being  made  acquainted 
with  the  nature  of  the  subject,  as  there  might  be 
something  in  it  after  all,  prejudicial  and  injurious 
to  others,  and  it  was  at  length  after  some  alter- 
cation, agreed  that  I  should  pledge  my  honor, 
not  to  reveal  what  the  Prince  was  going  to  say, 
provided  there  was  nothing  in  it  prejudicial  to 
anyone,  and  I  signed  a  promise  to  this  effect  on  a 
sheet  of  paper.  It  was  vague  and  general,  for  I 
would  not  tie  myself  down  to  absolute  secrecy, 
but  left  the  matter  conditional.  When  this  was 
done,  the  Prince  spoke  to  this  effect: 

"You  have  been  accustomed,  sir,  to  consider 
yourself  a  native  of  this  country;  but  you  are  not. 
You  are  of  foreign  descent;  you  were  born  in 
Europe,  sir,  and  however  incredible  it  may  at 
first  seem  to  you,  I  have  to  tell  you  that  you  are 
the  son  of  a  king.  There  ought  to  be  much  con- 
solation to  you  to  know  this  fact.  You  have  suf- 
fered a  great  deal,  and  have  been  brought  very 
low,  but  you  have  not  suffered  more,  or  been  more 
degraded  than  my  father,  who  was  long  in  exile 
and  poverty  in  this  country;. but  there  is  this  dif- 
ference between  him  and  you,  that  he  was  all 
along  aware  of  his  high  birth,  whereas  you  have 
been  spared  the  knowledge  of  your  origin." 

When  the  Prince  had  said  this  I  was  much  over- 

237 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 


come,  and  thrown  into  a  state  of  mind  which  you 
can  easily  imagine.  In  fact  I  hardly  knew  what 
to  do  or  say,  and  ray  feelings  were  so  much 
excited  that  I  was  like  one  in  a  dream,  and  much 
was  said  between  us  of  which  I  can  g-ive  but  an 
indistinct  account.  However,  I  remember  that  I 
told  him  that  his  communication  was  so  startling- 
and  unexpected  that  he  must  forg-ive  me  for  being- 
incredulous,  and  that  really  I  was  "between  two." 

"What   do   you   mean,"   he    said,     "by    being 
'between  two?'" 

I  replied  that  on  the  one  hand,  it  scarcely 
seemed  to  me  that  he  could  believe  what  he  said, 
and  on  the  other  I  feared  he  mig-ht  be  under  some 
mistake  as  to  the  person.  He  assured  me,  how- 
ever, that  he  spoke  the  simple  truth,  and  that  in 
regard  to  the  identity  of  the  person,  he  had 
ample  means  in  his  possession  to  satisfy  me  that 
there  was  no  mistake  in  that  respect.  I  then 
requested  him  to  proceed  with  the  disclosure 
already  partly  made,  and  to  inform  me  in  full  of 
of  the  secret  of  my  birth.  He  replied  that  in 
doing  so,  it  was  necessary  that  a  certain  process 
should  be  gone  through  in  order  to  guard  the 
interest  of  all  parties  concerned.  I  inquired 
what  kind  of  process  he  meant.  Upon  this  the 
Prince  rose  and  went  to  his  trunk,  which  was  in 
the  room,  and  took  from  it  a  parchment  which  he 
laid  on  the  table,  and  set  before  me  that  I  might 
read  and  give  him  my  determination  in  regard  to 

238 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

it.  There  was  also  on  the  table  pen,  ink  and 
wax,  and  he  placed  there  g-overnmental  seals  of 
France,  the  one,  if  I  mistake  not,  used  under  the 
old  monarchy.  It  was  of  precious  metal,  but 
whether  of  gold  or  silver,  or  a  compound  of  both, 
I  cannot  say.  I  think,  on  reflection,  the  latter; 
but  I  may  be  mistaken,  for  my  mind  was  so 
bewildered,  and  agitated,  and  engrossed  with  one 
absorbing  question,  that  things  which  at  another 
time  would  have  made  a  strong  impression  on  me 
were  scarcely  noticed,  although  I  must  confess 
that  when  I  knew  the  whole,  the  sight  of  the  seal 
put  before  me  by  a  member  of  the  family  of 
Orleans,  stirred  my  indignation.  The  document 
which  the  Prince  placed  before  me  was  very 
handsomely  written,  in  double  parallel  columns 
of  French  and  English.  I  continued  intently 
considering  it  for  some  time.  During  this  time 
the  Prince  left  me  undisturbed,  remaining  for  the 
most  part  in  the  room,  but  he  went  out  three  or 
four  times.  The  purport  of  the  document,  which 
I  read  repeatedly  word  b}"  word,  comparing  the 
French  with  the  English,  was  this:  It  was  a 
solemn  abdication  of  the  crown  of  France  in 
favor  of  Louis  Philippe,  by  Charles  Louis,  the 
son  of  Louis  XVI,  who  was  styled  Louis  XVII, 
King  of  France  and  Navarre,  with  all  accom- 
panying names  and  titles  of  honor  according  to 
the  custom  of  the  old  French  monarchy,  together 
with  a  minute  specification  in  legal  phraseology 

239 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

of  the  conditions  and  considerations,  and  provisos, 
upon  which  the  abdication  was  made.  These 
conditions  were  in  brief,  that  a  princely  estab- 
lishment should  be  secured  to  me  either  in  this 
country  or  in  France,  at  my  option,  and  that 
Louis  Philippe  would  pledge  himself  on  his  part 
to  secure  the  restoration  or  an  equivalent  for  it, 
of  all  the  private  property  of  the  royal  family 
rightfully  belonging  to  me,  which  had  been  con- 
fiscated in  France  during  the  Revolution,  or  in 
any  way  got  into  other  hands.  Now^  you  ask  me 
why  I  did  not  retain,  at  all  hazards,  this  docu- 
ment, or,  at  any  rate,  take  a  copy  of  it;  but  it  is 
very  eas}'  for  you,  sitting  quietly  there,  to 
prescribe  the  course  which  prudence  and  self- 
interest  would  dictate.  A  day  or  two  afterwards 
all  these  points,  and  the  different  lights  in  which 
the  thing  might  be  viewed,  came  to  my  mind,  but 
at  the  moment  I  thought  of  nothing  except  the 
question  of  acceptance  or  rejection.  And  then 
remember  the  sudden  manner  in  which  the  whole 
affair  came  upon  me,  and  the  natural  timidity 
and  bashfulness  of  one  who  had  always  considered 
himself  of  such  obscure  rank  when  called  with- 
out preparation  to  discuss  such  topics  with  a  man 
of  high  position  like  the  Prince.  Besides  which, 
my  word  of  honor  had  been  so  recently  and 
solemnly  pledged,  and  a  sense  of  personal  dignity 
excited  by  the  disclosures  of  the  Prince,  that  I 
never  so  much  as  thought  of  taking  any  advan- 

240 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

tagce  of  the  circumstances,  but  simply  and  solely 
whether  or  not  I  should  sign  my  name,  and  set 
my  seal  to  a  deliberate  surrender  of  my  rights 
and  those  of  my  family.  It  was  a  deeply  painful 
and  harrowing-  time,  and  I  cannot  tell  you,  and 
you  cannot  imagine,  how  I  felt  when  trying  to 
decide  this  question.  At  length  I  made  my 
decision,  and  rose,  and  told  the  Prince  that  I  had 
considered  the  matter  fully  in  all  its  aspects, 
and  was  prepared  to  give  him  my  definite  answer 
upon  the  subject;  and  then  went  on  to  say,  that 
whatever  might  be  the  personal  consequences  to 
myself,  I  felt  that  I  could  not  be  the  instrument 
of  bartering  away  with  my  own  hand  the  rights 
pertaining  to  me  by  my  birth,  and  sacrificing  the 
interests  of  my  family,  and  that  I  could  only  give 
to  him  the  answer  which  de  Provence  gave  to 
the  ambassador  of  Napoleon  at  Warsaw,  '  'Though 
I  am  in  poverty,  sorrow  and  exile,  I  will  not 
sacrifice  my  honor." 

The  Prince  upon  this  assumed  a  loud  tone,  and 
accused  me  of  ingratitude  in  trampling  on  the 
overtures  of  the  King,  his  father,  who  he  said  was 
actuated  in  making  the  proposition  more  by  feel- 
ings of  kindness  and  piety  towards  me  than  by  any 
other  consideration,  since  his  claim  to  the  French 
throne  rested  on  an  entirely  different  basis  to 
mine,  viz.,  not  that  of  hereditary  descent,  but  of 
popular  election.  When  he  spoke  in  this  strain 
I  spoke  loud  also,  and  said  that  as  he,  by  his  dis- 

241 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

closure,  had  put  me  in  the  position  of  a  superior, 
I  must  assume  that  position,  and  frankly  say  that 
my  indignation  was  stirred  by  the  memory  that 
one  of  the  family  of  Orleans  had  imbrued  his 
hands  in  my  father's  blood,  and  that  another 
now  wished  to  obtain  from  me  an  abdication  of 
the  throne.  When  I  spoke  of  superiority,  the 
Prince  immediately  assumed  a  respectful  silence 
for  several  minutes.  It  had  now  grown  very  late, 
and  we  parted,  with  a  request  from  him  that  I 
would  reconsider  the  proposal  of  his  father,  and 
not  be  too  hasty  in  my  decision.  I  returned  to 
my  father-in-law's,  and  the  next  day  saw  the 
Prince  again,  and  on  his  renewal  of  the  subject 
gave  him  a  similar  answer.  Before  he  w^ent  away 
he  said,  'Though  we  part,  I  hope  we  part  friends. ' 

In  the  evening  after  his  arrival  at  Green  Bay, 
the  citizens  gave  him  an  elaborate  reception  and 
dinner,  which  was  attended  b}^  the  polite  society 
for  W'hich  this  frontier  metropolis  Avas  famous. 
Among  the  guests  were  Mrs.  Morgan  L.  Martin 
and  Eleazer  Williams.  The  Prince  remarked 
that  he  w^as  surprised  to  hear  the  French  lan- 
guage sjDoken  so  correctly  in  this  far  off  out-post 
of  civilization. 

That  night  the  Prince  remained  at  the  Astor 
house  in  Green  Ba}^  and  until  tw^elve  o'clock 
noon  of  Wednesday,  October  20th.  "The  adieus," 
says  Rev.  Williams,  "between  the  Prince  and 
myself   were   affectionate,  he  promised  to  write 

242 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

me  on  his  arrival  at  New  York.  The  g-entlemen 
officers,  presented  me  with  their  cards,  urged  me 
to  call  on  them  in  France.  May  the  best  blessings 
of  Heaven  rest  on  the  whole  party."  Through  a 
cold  rainstorm  which  lasted  the  whole  afternoon, 
the  Prince  and  escort  on  horseback  proceeded 
by  a  narrow  trail  which  wound  through  the  woods 
along  the  river  margin,  southward  fourteen  miles 
to  the  temporary  wilderness  log  cabin  shack  of 
Captain  John  McCarty  on  the  east  bank  of  the 
river,  where  the  Prince  and  suite  spent  the  night. 
Rev.  Williams  has  not  related  the  incident  of 
the  Prince  de  Joinville  visit  to  his  home.  This 
visit  we  suppose  was  made  during  the  journey  to 
Captain  John  McCarty's  house,  or  the  next  day. 
Mrs.  Sharpe,  now  an  old  lady,  recalls  it  quite 
vividl}'.  She  says  the  Prince  came  over  the 
ferry  to  her  house  at  DePere  alone;  that  her 
father  Captain  Stewart  drove  the  Prince  in  a  lum- 
ber wagon,  six  miles  south  to  the  home  of  Eleazer 
Williams,  and  brought  the  Prince  back  again;  and 
while  he  ate  his  late  dinner  with  them  he  was 
constantly  talking  of  Williams,  and  of  his  sad 
poverty.  She  is  possibly  in  error  in  supposing 
that  her  father  drove  the  Prince  back  to  the 
Astor  House;  it  was  we  suppose  to  Captain  Mc- 
Carty's, he  was  taken.  Her  narrative  is  given  in 
full  in  Appendix  II.  For  some  of  the  journeys 
Dan  Whitne}',  Jr.,  was  given  a  watch  as  related 
by  Mrs.  Dunham,  Appendix  III. 

243 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

Captain  John  McCarty  was  a  g-entleman  of 
Alexandria,  Virginia,  who  was  temporaril}'  living- 
in  Wisconsin,  i^urchasing  and  overlooking  large 
tracts  of  land.  His  shack  was  on  the  east  bank 
of  the  river  opposite  the  homestead  of  Eleazer 
Williams,  fourteen  miles  up  river  from  Green  Bay. 
Mrs.  Frederick  Pleasants,  a  daughter  of  John  Mc- 
Carty, has  resided  for  many  years  at  Menasha, 
Wisconsin,  and  informs  the  author  that  the  cor- 
respondence of  her  father  was  by  her  mother's 
request,  buried  in  her  grave;  and  that  a  number 
of  years  ago  their  old  homestead  on  the  banks  of 
the  Potomac  was  destroyed  by  fire  with  all  its 
priceless  treasures  of  family  pictures,  books,  let- 
ters and  papers  reaching  back  for  several  hun- 
dred years. 

The  family  were  connected  with  the  Lord  Fair- 
fax, George  Washington,  and  the  Robert  E.  Lee 
families  of  Virginia.  Mrs.  Pleasants  when  a  girl 
heard  Eleazer  preach,  and  has  furnished  a  letter 
giving  her  impressions  which  will  be  found  in  the 
— appendix. 

Proceeding  on  his  journey  along  the  trail 
which  meandered  the  east  bank  of  the  Fox  river 
as  far  as  Kaukauna,  then  known  as  Kakalin  Rap- 
ids, they  struck  out  through  the  wilderness  over 
the  hills  on  an  uncertain  highway  known  as  the 
military  road  cut  out  by  young  Jefferson  Davis, 
when  on  duty  in  Wisconsin,  and  were  finally  com- 
pelled by  the  cold  rain  to  put  up  at  a  negro  Catos' 

244 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

shanty  in  the  Stockbrid^:e  woods  on  the  east 
shore  of  Lake  Winnebago.  There  was  no  other 
house  near  and  this  was  their  only  chance  for  a 
covering-.  The  Priest  Bondual  who  had  seen  the 
Prince  at  Green  Ba}^  said  that  the  Prince  was 
much  pleased  and  highly  gratified  with  his  inter- 
view with  Rev.  Williams. 

After  the  interview  was  published  in  Putnam's, 
the  "secretar}^  for  the  commands  of  the  Prince 
de  Joinville"'  sent  a  long  denial,  admitting  he  met 
a  passenger,  "whose  name  has  entirel}^  escaped 
his  memory,"  and  that  he  felt  bound  to  reply  to 
the  paper.  CajDtain  John  Shook  then  living  at 
Huron,  wrote,  "so  far  as  the  matters  relating  to 
me.  Rev.  Williams  has  stated  truthfully.  I  recol- 
lect the  apparent  surprise  of  the  Prince  on  the 
occasion  and  wondered  why  he  should  pay  to  the 
humble  and  unpretending  Indian  missionary"  such 
pointed  and  polite  attention.  I  have  long  known 
Rev.  Williams  and  seen  much  of  him  in  our  voy- 
ages on  the  lakes,  and  always  found  him  an  ami- 
able upright  man,  to  be  relied  on  in  any  state- 
ment he  might  make.'" 

But  here  is  a  statement  which  shows  the  im- 
pression of  the  officers  who  were  with  the  Prince. 

Mr.  George  Sumner,  brother  of  Senator  Charles 
Sumner  of  Massachusetts  met  in  the  year  1846, 
at  Brest,  one  of  the  officers  who  accompanied 
the  Prince  de  Joinville  to  Green  Bay,  and,  in  the 
cabin  of  his  vessel,  looking  cautiously  round  be- 

245 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

fore-he  spoke,  he  said  to  Mr.  Sumner,  that  there 
was  something-  very  singular  in  the  American 
trip  of  the  Prince  who  went  out  of  his  way  to 
meet  an  old  man  among  the  Indians,  who  had 
very  much  of  a  Bourbon  aspect,  and  who  was 
spoken  of  as  the  son  of  Louis  XVI. " 


I 


•55? 


246 


XXI 

"PAINT    ME   AS   I    AM,     WITH   ALL   MY   WARTS   AND 
SCARS  AND  IMPERFECTIONS,"    SAID   CROM- 
WELL  TO  THE   PAINTER. 

THE  life  of  Eleazer  Williams  is  hereafter 
mostl}^  an  account  of  preaching  at  different 
}3laces  about  the  country.  He  delivered  the 
historical  sermon  at  Deerfield  on  the  anniversary 
of  the  death  of  Rev.  John  Williams,  the  pastor  of 
long  ago.  He  became  by  other  arrangements  of 
the  societies  almost  disassociated  with  the 
Indians.  In  1846  the  society  for  the  Propagation 
of  the  Gospel  among  the  Indians,  and  others  in 
North  America,  appropriated  money  for  his 
support  for  two  years.  About  1850  he  retired  to 
St.  Regis  at  the  home  of  his  ancient  Indian 
mother,  where  he  commenced  a  school,  and  had  a 
missionary  appointment  from  the  Diocesan 
society  of  New  York,  and  the  Boston  Unitarian 
Society,  and  again  from  the  Societ}'^  for  the 
Propagation  of  the  Gospel.  He  traveled  over  all 
the  east,  preaching  everj^where.  As  related 
above,  Mrs.  Pleasants  heard  him  at  Alexandria. 
Hon.  Randolph  B.  Latimer  before  his  marriage, 
wrote  his  impressions  at  the  time,  to  his  bride  to 
be: 

247 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

"About  the  time  that  the  question:  -Is  there  a 
Bourbon  among"  us?'  was  being-  discussed  in  this 
country,  it  was  announced  that  the  Rev.  Eleazer 
Williams  would  preach  on  Sunday  evening",  at 
Mr.  Killin's  Church,  on  West  Lexing-ton  Street, 
Baltimore.  I  was  interested  in  the  subject,  and 
read  a  great  deal  about  it,  and  determined  to  go 
and  see  the  supposed  Louis  XVII,  and  hear  him 
preach.  In  the  vestibule  of  the  church  I  met 
Mr.  Killin,  whom.  I  knew  personally,  and  he  was 
accompanied  by  a  tall,  portl}',  fine-looking'  man 
in  the  plain  costume  of  an  Episcopal  clerg'y- 
man.  Instantly  I  recog'nized  him  as  the  supposed 
Bourbon,  and  made  him  a  bow,  which  he  returned 
most  graciously.  As  he  remained  in  the  vesti- 
bule I  could  not  take  my  eyes  off  him,  and  could 
see  in  his  face,  figure  and  manner  nothing  of  the 
half-breed  Indian,  which  some  claimed  he  was; 
but  a  very  decided  resemblance  to  the  jDortraits 
of  Louis  XVI,  and  other  members  of  the  Bourbon 
family;  in  fact,  I  could  not  help  thinking,  that 
had  he  been  clad  in  royal  robes  he  would  have 
'looked  every  inch  a  King.'  His  sermorf  was  a 
plain,  practical  one,  his  language  simple,  and  his 
pronunciation  rather  more  French  than  English, 
such  as  might  be  expected  from  a  man  who  had 
passed  his  life  doing  missionary  work  among  the 
Indians  and  half  breeds  along  our  Canadian  bor- 
der, where  French  was  used  quite  as  much  as 
English.     His  apparent  age   corresponded   with 

248 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

what  would  have  been  that  of  the  unfortunate 
prince,  and  I  came  away  satisfied  that  he  was  the 
real  Bourbon.  His  claim  to  the  throne  of  France 
mig-ht  have  been  substantiated,  but  he  had  no 
desire  to  raise  it,  and  preferred  the  simple  useful 
life  in  which  he  lived  and  died.  "  Of  this  peculiar 
nature  Rev.  Dr.  Hanson  says:  "Not  only  tlie 
physical  but  the  mental  characteristics  of  Mr. 
Williams,  curiously  correspond  with  what  the 
Dauphin  would  probably  be  if  alive,  in  such  a 
position  after  such  a  complicated  career.  He 
possesses  a  great  amount  of  native  talent;  an 
easy  g"race  and  dignity  of  manner  when  in  polite 
society,  which  seems  innate;  a  winning  sweetness 
of  disposition,  and  much  simplicity;  apparently 
warm  religious  feelings;  but  his  judgment  in 
matters  of  self-interest  is  not  of  the  strongest; 
fluent  and  eloquent  in  diction,  his  ideas  are  not 
always  well  assorted;  a  mystery  to  himself  as 
well  as  to  others,  subject  to  perpetual  question- 
ings, he  is  sometimes  abrupt;  accustomed  to 
Indian  life,  there  is  semibarbarism  mingled  with 
courtly  grace  and  roving  habits  with  warm 
affections; — in  a  word,  he  seems  like  one  jumbled 
out  of  place  by  destiny,  a  partial  wreck,  shat- 
tered, but  not  broken.  And  the  peculiarity  of 
his  character  must  be  taken  into  account,  in 
forming  an  estimate  of  his  conduct,  the  singularity 
of  which  will  create  in  many  minds  a  prejudice 
against  his  veracity,  since  they  will  be  unable  to 

249 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

understand  how  a  poor  man  could  reject  offers  so 
splendid,  or  a  man  of  the  world  neglect  the 
op]»ortunity  of  establishing  his  regal  birth, 
which  the  communication  of  De  Joinville  afforded, 
In  this  situation,  they  would  have  acted  differ- 
ently."  Dr.  Hanson  says,  Mr.  Williams,  while 
consenting  to  his  paper  in  Putnams',  did  not 
suggest  it. 

Dr.  Hanson  visited  St.  Regis  in  1852  of  which 
visit  he  relates — 

"He  is  a  missionary  at  St.  Regis  and  Hogans- 
burg,  both  miserable  lonely  places;  receiving  no 
pa3'ment  from  the  Indians  among  whom  he  labors, 
and  but  a  small  stipend  from  the  Missionary  com- 
mittee. The  rigors  of  the  climate  are  excessive; 
the  thermometer  being  frequently  30  degrees  be- 
low zero,  and  one  can  scarcely  conceive  a  situa- 
tion for  an  intelligent  mind  more  lonely,  more 
unbefriended,  more  destitute.  He  lives  on  the  In- 
dian reservation,  a  wild  tract  of  woodland  par- 
tiall}'^  cleared,  here  and  there  at  the  edges.  Dead 
evergreen  swamps,  decayed  vegetation,  rude 
fences,  half  prostrate,  surround  the  rickety  shed, 
admitting  the  cold  at  a  thousand  crevices  in 
which  reside  poor  Williams  and  the  old  Indian 
woman,  his  reputed  mother,  Avhom  be  heroically 
treats  as  if  she  were  his  parent,  though  believing 
himself  to  be  the  son  of  the  peerless  Marie  An- 
tionette.  I  found  him  well  spoken  of  without 
exception,  by  all  whom  I  conversed  with   in  the 

250 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 


vicinity,  a  g-ood  neighbor,  an  active  missionary, 
a  brave,  cheerful  old  man,  having  a  kind  word 
for  all,  and  breasting  fate  with  nothing  outward 
to  encourage  him.  He  has  no  church  building. 
He  is  trying  to  build  a  school-house  on  the  Indian 
reservation,  but  it  stands  roofless  in  the  piercing 
cold,  the  picture  of  desolation. "' 

"The  impression  among  all  who  know  him, 
whether  white  persons  or  Indians,  is,  that  he  is 
not  an  Indian;  and  I  conceive  no  fact  in  the  world 
to  be  more  certain  than  this.  A  respectable 
neighbor  gave  me  a  certificate,  from  which  the 
following  is  an  extract:  "I  was  brought  up  at 
Hogansburg,  and  have  served  in  the  army,  as  a 
private  in  Florida,  under  General  Worth.  I  have 
known  Indians  of  various  tribes,  especially  the 
Seminoles  and  the  Iroquois.  I  have  known  In- 
dians as  long  as  I  have  known  white  men.  I  am 
personally  acquainted  with  the  Rev.  Eleazer 
Williams,  and  have  known  him  since  my  child- 
hood. I  do  not  believe  him  to  be  an  Indian.  He 
is  entirely  unlike  the  rest  of  the  family.  I  knew 
his  supposed  brothers.  They  bore  no  resemblance 
to  Eleazer.  He  looks  like  a  German  or  a  French- 
man. They  were  evidentlj^  Indians.  I  know  an 
Indian  as  well  as  a  cow  or  a  horse."  An  intelli- 
gent Indian,  who  spoke  English,  said,  'He  speaks 
very  good  Indian;  but  he  is  not  like  any  Indian  I 
ever  saw.     When  I  first  met  him  I  took  him  for 


251 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

an  American.  He  is  as  much  like  a  Frenchman 
as  anything-.'" 

His  former  landlady  at  Hogansburg  said,  "I 
don't  know  whether  he  is  an  Indian  or  not.  He 
does  not  look  like  one.  If  I  had  not  head  that  he 
was  one,  I  should  not  suppose  that  he  was  any 
more  than  you.  He  is  not  like  any  of  his  family. 
All  the  other  children  are  dead." 

"All  the  undoubted  children  of  Thomas  Wil- 
liams were  strongly  marked  Indians,  notwith- 
standing- the  white  blood  in  their  veins.  They 
bore  not  the  slightest  resemblance  to  Eleazer 
Williams." 

"He  is  an  intelligent,  noble  looking  old  man, 
with  no  trace,  however  slight,  of  the  Indian 
about  him,  except  what  may  be  fairly  accounted 
for  by  his  long  residence  among  Indians.  Being 
far  more  familiar  with  their  language  than  with 
English  which  latter  he  speaks  correctly  and 
even  eloquently  as  far  as  style  is  concerned,  but 
pronounces  imperfectly;  his  manner  of  talking 
reminds  you  of  an  Indian,  and  he  has  the  habit  of 
shrugging  his  shoulders  and  gesticulatrng  like 
one;  but  he  has  the  port  and  presence  of  an 
European  gentleman  of  high  rank;  a  nameless 
something  which  I  never  saw  but  in  persons 
accustomed  to  command;  a  countenance  bronzed 
by  exposure  below  the  eyebrows;  a  fair,  high 
ample,  intellectual  but  receding  forehead;  a 
slightly  aquiline  but  rather  small   nose;  a  long 

252 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 


Austrian  lip,  the  expression  of  which  is  of  ex 
ceeding-  sweetness  when  in  repose;  full  fleshy- 
cheeks  but  hot  high  cheek  bones;  dark,  bright, 
merry  eyes  of  hazel  hue;  graceful,  well  formed 
neck;  strong  muscular  limbs,  indicating  health  and 
great  activity;  small  hands  and  feet,  and  dark 
hair,  sprinkled  with  grey,  as  fine  in  texture  as 
silk.  I  should  never  have  taken  him  for  an  In- 
dian. Some  persons  who  saw  him  several  years 
ago  tell  me  that  their  impression  is  that  he  looked 
partially  like  one,  but  admit  that  their  opinion 
may  have  been  influenced  by  their  having  been 
previously  told  that  he  was  of  Indian  extraction. 
I  will  here  insert  a  description  of  him  by  another 
hand,  furnished  me  by  Mr.  Williams. 

"  'His  complexion  is  rather  dark  like  that  of  one 
who  had  become  bronzed  by  living  much  in  the 
open  air,  and  he  passes  for  a  half-breed.  But  his 
features  are  decidedly  European,  rather  heavily 
moulded,  and  strongly  characterized  by  the  full, 
protuberant  Austrian  lips.  This  the  experienced 
observ^er  is  well  aware  is  never  found  in  the  abo- 
riginal, and  very  rarely  among  the  Americans. 
His  head  is  well  formed,  and  sits  proudly  on  his 
shoulders.  His  eyes  are  dark  but  not  black.  His 
hair  may  be  called  black,  is  rich  and  glossy  and 
interspersed  with  gray.  His  eyebrows  are  full, 
and  of  the  same  color;  upon  the  left  is  a  scar. 
His  beard  is  heavy  and  nose  aquiline.  The  nostril 
is  large  and  finely  cut.     His  temperament  is  gen- 

253 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

ial,  with  a  dash  of  vivacity  in  his  manners,  he  is 
fond  of  good  living,  and  inclines  to  embonpoint, 
which  is  the  characteristic  of  his  (the  Bourbon) 
family.'  " 

Rev.  Dr.  Francis  L.  Hawes,  Episcopal  clergy- 
man and  eminent  historian  sent  the  Bourbon 
papers  to  Putnams,  and  with  it  a  letter  in  which 
he  said  that  "Rev.  Dr.  Hanson  was  a  clergyman 
of  worth  and  ability."  "That  his  character  and 
standing  are  such  as  to  justify  entire  confidence. " 
"As  to  Mr.  Williams  himself,  I  know  him  very 
well.  He  is  a  clergyman  of  the  Protestant  Epis- 
copal church  whose  labors  have  been,  almost 
entirely,  those  of  a  missionary  among  the  Indians. 
He  is  in  good  standing  as  a  clergyman,  and  is 
deemed  a  man  of  truth  among  his  acquaintances 
and  those  with  whom  he  has  longest  lived.  As 
his  character  for  veracity  becomes  an  all-impor- 
tant question,  in  considering  the  very  remarkable 
facts  contained  in  the  narrative,  Mr.  Hanson  took 
great  pains  in  his  inquiries  on  that  point;  and  to 
that  end  made  a  visit  to  the  spot  where  Mr.  Wil- 
liams had  spent  many  years  of  his  life,  and  was 
best  known;  the  result  was  abundant  and  satis- 
factory testimonials,  now  in  Mr.  Hanson's  posses- 
sion, that  Mr.  Williams  has  always  been  deemed 
a  worthy  and  truthful  man.  I  can  add  to  this 
merely  my  statement  that  in  all  my  intercourse 
with  him,  I  have  never  found  reason  to  doubt  the 
correctness  of  his  neighbors  and  acquaintances  on 

254 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

their  testimon)'^  to  his  character  as  stated  above."' 
"From  personal  knowledge,  I  am  able  to  say 
that  there  is  a  remarkable  simplicity  both  of  man- 
ner and  character  about  Mr.  AVilliams.  He  pos- 
sesses an  ordinary  share  of  intellectual  power; 
with  but  little  quickness,  however,  of  combina- 
tion in  g-rouping;  facts  that  bear  on  a  common  cen- 
tral point,  and  without  much  readiness  in  deduc- 
ing- conclusions  from  them;  and  is  incapable  of 
framing-  a  mass  of  circumstantial  testimony,  made 
up  of  a  combination  of  many  isolated  facts.  To 
do  this,  requires  g-enius,  and  a  hig-h  inventive  fac- 
uilt}'.  Indeed,  nothing"  has  struck  me  more  forci- 
bly in  my  frequent  conversations  with  him  on  the 
facts  embodied  in  Mr.  Hanson's  narrative  than 
his  seeming-ly  entire  non-perception  of  the  bear- 
ing- of  many  of  the  facts  as  testimony,  and  their 
coincidence  with  other  events  known  to  him,  until 
these  were  pointed  out  to  him.  And  sometimes 
he  could  not  at  first  be  made  even  then,  to  com- 
prehend readily  the  indicated  relations.  When, 
however  he  did  comprehend  the  relations,  his 
countenance  would  lig"ht  up  with  a  smile,  and  he 
would  say,  'I  see  it  now,  but  I  never  saw  it 
before.'" 

"I  have  found  him  uniformly  amiable,  and  g-en- 
tle  in  manner,  and  to  all  appearances  a  truly  pious 
man." 

"In  short,  a  knowledg-e  of  the  man  has  seemed 
to   me  to  be  an  important  part  of  the  story  he 

255 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

tells;  his  temperament,  disposition,  mental  opera- 
tions, etc.,  all  go  to  establishing^  one  of  the  facts 
explanatorj"  of  some  particulars  in  the  narrative." 

"Whether  the  historical  problem  presented  by- 
Mr.  Hanson  be  here  solved,  is  a  matter  which  I 
will  not  undertake  to  decide.  The  only  points  of 
which  I  would  speak  with  certainty  are  two: 
first,  Mr.  Williams  is  not  an  Indian:  and  secondly, 
he  is  not  able  to  invent  a  complicated  mass  of 
circumstantial  evidence  to  sustain  a  fabricated 
story." 

But  over  against  these  noble  endorsements, 
Hon.  John  Y.  Smith  who  knew  him  for  ten  years 
in  Green  Bay  and  often  sat  with  him  at  the  same 
table  says:  "He  was  a  fat,  lazy,  good  for  nothing- 
Indian;  but  cunning,  crafty,  fruitful  in  expedients 
to  raise  the  wind.  I  doubt  whether  there  was  a 
man  at  Green  Bay  whose  word  commanded  less 
confidence  than  that  of  Eleazer  Williams."  And 
General  Albert  G.  Ellis  writing  of  his  character 
says:  "EleazerWilliams  was  the  most  perfect  adept 
at  fraud,  deceit  and  intrigue  that  the  world  has 
ever  produced. "  But  Judge  Morgan L.  Martin  also 
knew  him  at  Green  Bay,  and  seems  better  to  have 
understood  him:  "I  never  was  any  admirer  of 
Williams  or  his  methods,  but  I  am  inclined  to 
thinli  that  General  Ellis  and  others  are  too  severe 
on  him.  A  man  reared  amid  savage  surround- 
ings," sa^^s  Judge  Martin,  "as  he  was,  should  be 
judged  by  a  different  standard  than  we  set  up  for 

256 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

one  who  has  spent  his  life  entirely  among"  white 
people.  No  one  can  from  childhood  fraternize 
with  Indians  without  absorbing-  their  character- 
istics to  some  extent,  and  becoming  vain,  deceit- 
ful and  boastful.  He  was  a  remarkable  man  in 
man}"  respects,  but  was  deeply  imbued  with  false 
notions  of  life,  and  his  career  was  a  failure.  He 
was  neither  better  nor  worse  than  his  life-long 
companions  and  was  what  might  have  been  ex- 
pected from  one  who  had  been  sent  into  the  world 
with  certain  racial  vices  and  whose  training  and 
associations  were  not  calculated  to  better  him." 

"I  verily  believe  he  ate  four  pounds  of  that 
ham  before  he  left  the  table,"  saj^s  Ellis. 
"Eleazer  was  built  very  much  like  a  hogshead, 
largest  in  the  middle  and  tapering  a  little  both 
ways,  and  if  you  could  have  seen  him  eat,  you 
would  have  thought  him  about  as  hollow.  But 
not  to  exaggerate,  in  his  capacity  for  eating  he 
was  a  match  for  the  hungriest  Indian  I  ever  saw, " 
says  Hon.  John  Y.  Smith.  How  his  appetite  re- 
calls the  humiliation  often  experienced  by  the 
delicate  Marie  Antoinette  upon  the  gormandising 
exhibition  of  her  husband  Louis  XVI. 

"Williams  would  have  passed  for  a  pure  Indian, 
with  just  a  suspicion  of  the  African  in  his  com- 
plexion and  features,"  says  John  Y.  Smith. 
"His  skin  was  dark  and  of  peculiar  Indian  tex- 
ture. His  hair,  e3'ebrows  and  eyelashes  were  of 
the  most  inky  raven  blackness,  and  such  as  no 

257 


PRINCE       OR      CREOLE 

blonde  ever  wore,"  says  Mr.  Ellis.  "I  have 
known  him  for  almost  thirty  years.  His  color, 
features,  and  the  conformation  of  his  face,  testify 
to  his  (Indian)  origin, "  says  Governor  Lewis 
Cass.  It  will  be  remembered  that  the  Dauphin 
had  light  hair. 

But  it  is  not  infrequent  that  blonde  in  child- 
hood becomes  brunette  in  after  years.  Captain 
McCarty,  the  host  of  the  Prince  de  Joinville  at 
Little  Kaukauna,  had  then  raven  black  hair,  but 
in  childhood  was  light  blonde.  "Indian-ologists 
assure  me  that  his  ears  were  a  sure  mark  of  his 
Indian  origin,"'  says  Dr.  John  G.  Shea.  "About 
his  ears  whether  evidence  of  his  Indian  blood  or 
not,  they  were  much  turned  forward,  protruded 
from  his  head.  His  toes  turned  in,  Indian  like," 
says  Mr.  Ellis. 

Two  doctors,  John  W.  Francis  and  Richard  S. 
Kissam,  of  New  York,  made  an  examination  of 
Rev.  Williams,  and  reported  him:  "a  robust  Europ- 
ean, of  French  blood,"  "and  there  is  no  traces  of 
the  aboriginal  or  Indian  in  him.  " 

Another  eminent  New  York  doctor,  B.  'Geron- 
delo,  reported  him,  of  "obviously  European  com- 
plexion." 

Dr.  H.  N.Walker,  of  Hogansburg,  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  St  Regis  reservation,  reports  that  Eleazer 
Williams  "has  no  ethnological  connection  with 
the  St.  Regis  Indians,  nor  with  any  other  Indians 
I  have  ever  known."     When  four  eminent  medical 

258 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 


men  pronounce  him  a  white  man  it  must  require 
more  positive  testimony  than  yet  produced  to 
secure  belief  that  he  was  of  Indian  parentage. 

Corresponding-  marks  of  identification  were  a 
scar  over  the  left  eyebrow  inflicted  by  Simon; 
tumors  on  both  elbows,  both  wrists,  both  knees, 
inoculation  marks  on  his  arm,  one  of  which  was 
in  the  form  of  a  crescent. 

On  the  arm  of  Eleazer,  "there  were  two  dis- 
tinct marks  of  inoculation  on  the  upper  part  of 
the  left  arm,  one  of  which  is  semi-circular  or 
crescent  shaped  on  the  outer  margin, "  wrote  Dr. 
John  W.  Frances  in  1853. 

"The  Dauphin  had  on  his  arm  inoculation 
marks  of  which  one  was  the  shape  of  a  crescent, " 
sa3's  Madam  de  Rambaud  in  a  letter  to  Duchess 
d"  Angouleme.  Dr.  Charles  W.  Collins,  secretary 
of  the  Franklin  County  Historical  Society  of 
Malone,  X.  Y.,  the  Capital  town  of  Franklin 
County,  in  which  Hogansburg  is  located,  writes, 
the  authur  under  date  of  August  3,  1904: 

"Concerning  this  matter  of  vaccination,  I  have 
investigated  the  local  history.  In  181-4  Dr.  Albon 
Man,  of  Constable,  N.  Y.,  but  then  assisting  the 
U.  S.  army  surgeons  at  French  Mills  (Ft.  Coving- 
ton) inoculated  several  persons  at  the  latter 
place  with  vaccine  virus.  This  was  the  first  in- 
stance of  that  practice  in  this  county.  The 
next  physician  to  practice  vaccination  was  Dr. 
Roswell  Bates  of  Ft.  Covington,  January  9,  1820, 

259 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

Dr.  Bates  announces  that  he  has  inoculated 
patients  with  "kine  pock"  several  times,  and  be- 
lieving' it  is  to  be  a  "reliable  remedJ^"  he  is  pre- 
pared to  treat  all  applicants.  Dec.  12,  1820,  Dr. 
Paul  Thorndike  and  Dr.  H.  S.  Waterhouse,  both 
of  Malone,  announced  that  they  too  were  pre- 
pared to  inoculate  with  ''kine  pock."  There 
were  no  physicians  then  or  at  any  previous  time, 
at  either  St.  Regis  or  Caughnawaga.  You  will 
see  that  Williams  could  not  have  been  vaccinated 
here." 

That  Eleazer  was  gentlemanl}^  but  absolutely 
moral,  there  has  never  been  any  question.  The 
one  great  test  of  Indian  origin  ha.s  never  been 
applied  to  him;  which  is  appetite  for  strong 
drink.  No  Indian  can  resist  it.  All  are  over- 
whelmed bj^  it.  It  was  the  curse  of  the  mission 
Indian.  "The  Indian  is  good  for  nothing  when 
he  can  get  strong  water,"  says  Chief  John 
Metoxen.  Eleazer  Williams  did  not  drink,  nor 
crave  liquor.  Neither  did  he  smoke,  which  was 
a  constant  Indian  pastime. 

He  wrote  the  following  letter,  Septerrtber  21, 
1848,  which  is  among  the  very  few  he  ever  wrote 
referring  to  this  subject.  It  is  addressed  to 
Pierre  Bernard  Grignon  of  Green  Bay,  and  was 
recently  destroyed  by  the  burning  of  the  David 
Grignon  place. 
"Dear  Bernard" — 

The  intelligence  I   am  now   to  give   you  is  in 

260 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

accordance  with  the  hints  I  gave  you  in  our  last 
interview,  which  now  prove  too  true.  Am  I  the 
child  of  the  most  unfortunate  parents?  A  descen- 
dant from  one  of  the  most  unhappy  potentates  of 
Europe?  The  secret  commissioners  from  Fr — 
have  in  a  great  measure  confirmed  it.  Oh,  the 
unhappy  and  cruel  fate  of  parents!  Can  you 
wonder,  my  friend,  I  am  in  distress,  yea  agony. 
The  news  has  seized  me  with  such  a  poignant 
grief  and  sorrow  as  it  would  require  with  the 
tongue  of  an  angel,  and  the  pen  of  a  ready  writer 
to  describe  my  feelings.  When  all  this  affair 
will  end,  God  onlj*  knows.  Tremendous  scenes 
may  be  before  me  or  it  will  end  in  peaceful  and 
calm  weather  ****." 


ffe^ 


261 


XXII 

THE   FORTUNES  OF  A  MISSIONARY. 

ABOUT  1849  or  50,  Eleazer  Williams  took 
up  missionary  work  at  Hogansburg  the 
white  town  of  the  St.  Regis  Indians  in 
Northern  New  York.  Here  he  remained  until  his 
death  in  1858,  often  visiting-  Washing-ton  to  urge 
claims  of  Mary  Ann  Williams,  and  Thomas 
Williams  his  reputed  i>arents,  which  were  incor- 
porated in  bills  before  Congress.  He  also  urged 
his  own  claims  of  long  standing  which  he  had 
prosecuted  before  Congress  for  over  thirty  j^ears. 
These  claims  were  all  just  and  supported  with 
ample  testimony,  but  never  paid  by  Congress, 
except  some  slight  part  of  them.  After  the  close 
of  the  war  he  was  paid  ten  thousand  dollars  for 
his  services  as  a  scout;  but  all  of  this  money  he 
expended  for  the  benefit  of  the  Oneida  Indians 
and  their  schools.  In  1857,  Rev.  Williams 
returned  to  Wisconsin  for  a  few  days,  Where  he 
had  not  been  for  over  seven  years  before.  In  a 
letter  to  his  son  John  Lawe  Williams,  dated 
Hogansburg,  July  9,  1857,  he  announced  his  visit: 
"My  dear  son — I  now  prepare,  if  God  willing, 
to  visit  you  and  your  mother.  I  shall  set  out  in 
seven  or  eight  days  from  this.  It  will  take  me 
perhaps  two  weeks  if  not  more  before  I  can  reach 

262 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

you,  as  I  must  stop  at  several  places  on  the  way. 
Inform  mother  of  it.  While  there  I  will  be  con- 
fined j^retty  much  in  the  office,  as  I  wish  to  over- 
haul all  my  papers  to  find  certain  ones  which 
may  assist  in  sustaining'  our  claims  upon  the 
Government.  You  must  try  to  go  down  with  me 
to  Green  Bay,  and  stay  while  I  am  there.  Can 
you  get  a  one  horse  wagon,  which  will  be  more 
agreeable  to  me  to  go  down  with.  My  stay  must 
be  short.  My  great  object  is  to  find  some  papers, 
which  are  very  important  to  accompany  my  own 
claim  now  pending-  in  the  Senate.  As  for  Mary 
Ann  Williams'  claim,  that  is  abundantly  sustained, 
and  I  have  strong  hope,  it  will  pass  in  the  next 
session  of  Congress.  On  my  arrival  at  Milwau- 
kee, I  will  write  you  and  let  5^ou  know  the  day  I 
will  reach  you.  Have  all  in  readiness  for  the 
journey  that  we  may  be  in  motion  the  next  day 
after  my  arrival.  This  business  has  already 
been  very  expensive  to  me,  but  hopes  of  getting 
a  little  sum,  has  prompted  me  to  continue  in  my 
application.  My  health  is  much  better  than  it 
has  been,  and  I  hope  by  the  blessing  of  heaven 
to  reach  you  safe.  Remember  me  kindly  to 
your  family.     In  haste. 

"Your  alfectionate  father, 
Eleazer  Williams." 
Rev.    William's   arrived   in   Oshkosh   by  boat 
from  Fond  du  Lac,    the  last  days    of  July,  and 
took  boat  up  Fox  and  Wolf  rivers  to  Winneconne 

263 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

where  he  remained  one  night  only  with  his  son 
John  who  was  living  on  a  farm  that  joined  the 
edge  of  the  village.  He  had  been  married  in 
1851;  but  his  wife  and  George,  their  five  year  old 
son,  now  saw  "father"  Williams,  as  they  affec- 
tionately speak  of  him,  for  the  first,  last  and  only 
time,  on  this  short  visit.  As  all  America  was  at 
this  time  full  of  the  story  of  Rev.  Williams  royal 
rights,  wherever  he  went,  he  was  seen  by 
alleyes.  Mrs.  Washburn  traveling  on  the  boat 
to  Fond  du  Lac  was  called  out  of  the  cabin  by 
her  husband,  Judge  Geo.  W.  Washburn  of  Osh- 
kosh  to  see  the  Lost  Prince,  and  Mrs.  Theodore 
Conkey  saw  him  on  the  same  journey.  Rev. 
Williams  made  a  hurried  visit  to  his  old  home, 
Little  Kaukauna,  to  visit  his  wife  and  examine 
his  papers.  The  latter  were  in  a  little  mission 
house  or  chapel,  the  first  protestant  church  in 
Wisconsin,  now  used  for  his  office.  He  soon 
found  the  documents  for  which  he  was  in  search, 
and  returned  to  Hogansburg.  His  wife  and 
western  friends  saw  him  on  this  visit  for  the  last 
time.  He  never  returned  and  died  about  one  year 
afterward. 

Upon  his  return  he  wrote  the  following  letter 
to  his  son — 

"Hogansburg,  Aug.  25th.,  1857. 
"Dear  Son: — 

I  reached  this  place  on  Tuesday  in  the  follow- 
ing week  after  leaving  you.     I  stayed  over  night 

264 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

at  Racine  and  saw  Mr.  Emerson,  who  informed  me 
in  the  purchase  he  made  of  the  Kakalin  tract 
from  Mr.  Lawrence  that  there  was  no  written 
provision  made  for  your  mother's  holding  the 
place  where  she  is  now,  only  verbally — that  is, 
during-  the  pleasure  of  the  owner.  Now  this  is  a 
hard  case.  I  will,  however,  make  one  more  effort 
to  get  this  into  a  different  shape.  I  am  preparing 
now,  my  papers  to  repair  to  Boston  and  place 
them  before  some  of  the  eminent  lawyers  there 
for  their  opinion.  Mr.  Lawrence  has  certainly 
committed  himself  in  one  of  his  letters  to  me, 
which  does  show,  that  he  did  not  consider  him- 
self to  be  the  owner  of  the  whole  estate.  The 
result  of  my  journey  you  may  expect  to  hear.  I 
was  highly  gratified  in  my  visit  to  your  place  to 
find  you  to  be  in  a  prosperous  state  as  to  worldly 
matters. 

I  find  your  place  or  farm  above  is  considered 
to  be  valuable.  It  may  be  to  your  advantage 
after  all  to  dispose  of  it.  Still  it  is  a  kind, 
venerable  place.  There  is  no  place  I  have  been 
taken  up  with  so  much,  as  Martin's  place.  If  I 
were  to  select  a  place  of  private  residence  in 
Wisconsin,  it  would  be  there.  I  wish  you  would 
examine  the  land  and  the  little  island  opposite 
to  it.  Should  I  obtain  from  the  government  a 
little  sum,  I  should  be  very  apt  to  purchase  of 
the  above  place. 

Your  present  position  and  connected  as  you  are 

265 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

with  that  liquor  store,  it  is  far  from  pleasing  to 
your  Avife,  as  well  as  myself.  I  hope  you  will  dis- 
connect yourself  from  it  as  soon  as  ma}?^  be  con- 
venient. It  is  not  for  your  reputation  as  a 
reputable  3'oung  o-entleman,  to  be  in  that  position. 
I  am  also  preparing  for  m}^ Washington  compaign 
in  next  session  of  Congress. " 

"Yours  truly, 

E.  Williams." 
The  references  in  the  above  letter  to  his  lost 
estate,  closed  the  final  struggle  to  retain  his 
princely  landed  property,  worth  now  a  million 
dollars.  This  estate  lay  on  the  west  bank  of  the 
Fox  River,  six  miles  south  of  DePere,  at  a  country 
location  since  known  as  Little  Kaukauna,  from 
the  name  of  the  rapids  in  the  river,  and  now  the 
steam  railway  station;  and  interurban  street  car 
station;  and  post  office  of  Little  Rapids.  The 
lands  were  in  his  day  mostly  a  wilderness  thickly 
grown  with  oak,  maple,  elm  and  pine,  all  suitable 
for  saw  logs,  which  have  been  cut  away  at  great 
profit,  leaving  the  farm  lands  now  occupied  by 
numerous  extensive  and  rich  farms;  impr6ved  by 
highways,  fences  and  grand  farm  buildings,  and 
pleasant  country  homes.  This  noble  woodland 
estate,  was  originally  three  hundred  and  fifty 
chains  north  and  south  along  the  river,  and  two 
hundred  and  fifty  chains  westerly  inland,  contain- 
ing 8750  acres,  about  two  miles  of  the  finest  lands 
the  sun  ever  shone  upon;  high  and  self  drained. 

266 


^  9 

a      M 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

This  beautiful  forest  had  been  the  hunting  ground 
of  the  Jourdain  family,  expressly  reserved  to 
them  by  their  Menomonee  Indian  connection  in 
the  cession  to  the  New  York  Indians;  and  to 
avoid  future  doubt  the  lands  were  made  over  to 
"Magdeline  Williams,""  two  years  after  her  mar- 
riage to  Rev.  Eleazer  Williams,  on  August  22, 
1825,  by  a  formal  deed  signed  by  six  of  "The 
chiefs,  warriors  and  head  men  of  the  Menomonee 
nation  of  Indians."  The  property  covered  on 
the  river  front  a  valuable  hydraulic  power.  By 
the  treaty  of  1838  made  with  the  government  by 
the  Menomonee,  the  grant  was  confirmed  to  Elea- 
zer Williams,  and  the  Patent  duly  issued  from  the 
President  of  the  United  States. 

On  the  bank  of  the  river  on  this  estate,  Rev. 
Mr.  Williams,  built  a  log  house  and  outbuildings. 
His  office  was  the  old  log  cabin  originally  erected 
as  the  first  protestant  church  in  Wisconsin,  and 
stood  near  the  dwelling.  The  New  York  Indians 
at  first  located  upon  this  charming  property  and 
the  location  of  his  home  was  to  have  been  the 
seat  of  the  western  Indian  empire,  so  long  the 
dream  of  statesmen  and  philanthropists.  Prom 
the  high  bank  of  the  river  at  his  home,  the  pros- 
pect is  the  grandest  on  the  beautiful  river,  which 
at  this  place  is  nearly  a  mile  wide,  with  Black 
Bird  Island  in  the  mid  channel.  The  old  log 
cabin  chapel  of  early  days  rotted  down  and  dis- 
appeared long  ago.     The  old  log  cabin  home  has 

267 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

been  rebuilt.  Only  sixty  five  acres  still  remain 
with  the  old  house,  the  last  relic  of  a  princely 
domain. 

The  woodland  of  those  days  was  of  little  profit 
to  Rev.  Eleazer  Williams,  and  his  missionary 
income  was  uncertain  and  verj'  small.  He  strug- 
gled against  financial  ruin  all  his  life.  The  store 
bill  with  the  trader  was  constantly  growing 
larger  with  small  prospect  of  being  paid.  Per- 
haps he  was  like  many  another  who  have  given 
their  life  to  the  good  they  could  do  among  the 
humble,  not  a  good  manager.  His  bills  at  Mr. 
Whitney's  ran  up  to  twelve  hundred  dollars,  and 
on  June  10,  1840,  Mr.  Daniel  Whitney  recovered  a 
judgment  against  Williams  for  $1285.03.  Rev.  Mr. 
Williams  was  in  Boston  and  mentioned  his 
troubles.  He  was  advised  to  see  Mr.  Amos 
Lawrence,  who  agreed  to  buy  the  judgment  and 
in  settlement  to  take  half  the  lands,  which  had 
been  surveyed  at  4800  acres,  and  leave  Mr, 
Williams  with  the  other  half  clear.  It  had 
always  been  understood  that  half  the  land  was 
the  property  of  Mrs.  Williams.  This  agreement 
was  not  carried  out,  we  suppose  because  Rev.  Mr. 
Williams  was  a  better  preacher  than  lawyer,  and 
on  April  25,  1842  the  entire  estate  was  sold  by 
the  judgment  and  all  passed  out  of  the  hands  of 
both  Rev.  Mr,  Williams  and  his  good  wife.  Mrs. 
Williams  purchased  the  sixty  five  acres  about  the 
house  and  held  it  all  her  life,  as  her  homestead 

2G8 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

and  willed  it  to  Josephine  Penney  Phillips,  the 
daug-hter  of  her  old  and  faithful  Indian  servant, 
"Nan." 

That  Rev.  Mr.  Williams  is  right  in  his  conten- 
tion, that  Amos  Lawrence  did  not  keep  faith  with 
him  in  the  purchase  of  the  judgment  and  sale  of 
the  whole  4800  acres  of  rich  lands  for  a  $1200.00 
judgment,  is  evidenced  in  the  one  fact  that 
Lawrence  obtained  the  land  for  twenty-five  cents 
an  acre,  which  was  worth  then  at  government 
price  six  thousand  dollars,  and  by  actual  value, 
one  hundred  thousand  dollars,  and  now  worth 
nearly  a  million  dollars,  and  on  which  there  is  a 
water  power  worth  fifty  thousand  dollars.  Amos 
Lawrence  was  ashamed  of  his  own  act,  and  con- 
tinued a  negotiation  to  make  Rev.  Mr.  Williams 
happy  in  being  plucked  even  to  the  very  day  of 
his  death,  fifteen  years  afterward.  As  late  as 
1857,  Col.  H.  E.  Eastman  acting  as  agent  for 
Lawrence,  approached  John  Lawe  Williams  to 
purchase  the  claim  of  Eleazer  Williams  in  the 
lands  sold  away  from  him  by  this  judgment.  Of 
this  Eleazer  writes: 

"It  was  doubtful  with  me  when  3^ou  informed 
me,  that  crafty  man  (Eastman)  would  attempt 
to  purchase  a  jDroperty  which  he  has  heretofore 
considered  was  conveyed  by  us  to  Mr.  Lawrence. " 
The  next  year  Rev.  Mr.  Williams  agreedwith  Col. 
Miller  of  Oshkosh  to  give  him  half  of  his  half  of 
the   land   if   he  w^ould    recover    it,    and    Miller 

269 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

proposed  to  Lawrence  to  refer  the  subject  to 
arbitration,  but  nothing"  ever  came  of  it.  This 
splendid  estate  was  lost  to  Williams,  because  he 
placed  too  much  confidence  in  the  honest}^  of 
others.  I  have  read  over  a  great  many  unpub- 
lished letters  of  Eleazer  Williams,  and  much  that 
has  been  published  of  him,  and  must  confess  that 
I  have  yet  to  find  a  single  act  of  dishonesty  on 
his  part,  though  some  of  his  enemies  have  bit- 
terly denounced  him.  Because  of  his  jjovert}?^  we 
have  showm  he  lost  a  great  fortune  in  land,  on  a 
judgment  obtained  for  a  store  bill.  He  was 
obliged  to  remain  in  the  east  the  last  ten  years 
of  his  life,  while  urging  Congress  to  pay  his  just 
claims,  because  he  had  no  money  to  pay  traveling 
expenses,  and  only  got  home  once  during  that 
time.  "I  have  made  several  attempts  to  go  to 
you,  when  I  would,  I  failed  for  want  of  means  for 
such  a  journey,"  he  writes  home  in  January,  1857. 
The  New  York  world  in  1867  gave  credence  to 
a  tale  from  Canada,  that  Rev.  Eleazer  Williams 
had  collected  for  the  Caughnawaga  tribe,  an 
annuity  from  1812  to  1820;  but  had  not  paid  it 
over  to  the  Indians.  This  charge  was  made  forty 
seven  years  after  the  occurrence,  and  from  rumor; 
but  is  discredited  very  effectually  by  the  fact 
that  the  St.  Regis  Indians  acknowledged  their 
indebtedness  to  Williams,  not  that  he  owes  them. 
Under  date  of  January  21,  1858,  Rev.  Mr.  Williams 
writes    his    son  John:    "There  are    some    things 

270 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

which  I  wish  to  inform  you;  that  is,  that  the  St. 
Regis  Indians  are  indebted  to  me  two  thousand 
dollars,  and  for  which  I  have  a  regular  document, 
signed  by  sixteen  of  them.     This  paper  is  depos- 
ited by  me  in  the  county  clerk's  office  at  Malone 
for  safe  keeping,  and  I  have  a  certificate  of  such 
deposit.     I  cannot  commence  suit  as  there  is  no 
special  law.     To  remedy  this  something  may  be 
done  by  the  present  legislature."     He  died  Aug- 
ust  28,    1858,    in   great   poverty,    having    dwelt 
mostly  alone  in  a  neat  cottage  erected  by  friends 
after   the    publications   which    excited    general 
interest.     "His  household  presented  an  aspect  of 
cheerless  desolation,  without  a  ray  of  comfort  or 
genial  spark  of  home  life."     "His  neatly  finished 
rooms,  had  neither  carpet,  curtains  or  furniture 
save  a  scanty  suppl3'of  broken  chairs  and  tables; 
boxes  filled  with  books  lay  stored  in   corners." 
All  "left  upon  the  visitors  an  oppressive  feeling 
of  homeless  solitude,  that  it  was  impossible  to 
efface  from  the    memory."     "The  occupant,  his 
family  a   thousand   miles   away,  his   hopes    and 
ambitions  turned  to  decay  and  ashes,  crept  scarce 
honored  into  a  lonely  grave,"  over  which  by  the 
bounty  of  his  son  John,  a  monument  was  erected. 
On  the  monument  there  is  cut  a  masonic  emblem 
of   the   square   and   compass.     In  September   2, 
1824,  the  Menomonee   Lodge   was   instituted   in 
Fort  Howard,  and  ceased  to  exist  in   1830,  and 
its   records   cannot  now  be  found;  but  a   month 

271 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 


after  the  establishment  of  this  lodge,  Rev. 
Eleazer  Williams  made  application  for  member- 
ship as  shown  by  the  documents  now  in  the  His- 
torical Society  at  Madison.  There  is  no  doubt 
he  was  admitted.  Aurora  Lodge  No.  383  of 
Masons  took  charge  of  the  funeral  at  Hogansburg, 
N.  Y. 

After  the  story  of  Rev.  Mr.  Williams  had  been 
widely  read,  a  purse  was  made  up  in  England  to 
build  him  a  frame  church  and  school  at  Hogans- 
burg scarcely  completed  when  he  died.  This 
structure  is  now  used  as  a  hay  barn.  While 
he  resided  in  the  east,  his  son  John  frequently 
visited  him,  and  while  he  was  sick  he  went  to  see 
him;  but  was  not  there  when  he  died.  He  went 
there  with  his  wife  as  soon  as  he  heard  of  his 
death,  and  left  money  with  a  merchant  for  the 
stone,  who  kindly  had  it  erected.  Mrs.  John  L. 
Williams  informs  the  writer  that  the  house  was 
empty,  someone  had  carried  off  all  his  effects. 
Ten  years  after  his  death,  inl867,  Rev.  Mr.  Robert- 
son then  at  Malone,  asked  for  letters  of  adminis- 
tration, which  were  issued  to  him,  and  h'e  took 
possession  of  what  papers  and  effects  he  could 
discover.  His  inventory  is  on  file  in  Franklin 
County  Court  House,  Malone,  New  York.  He 
was  subsequently  Bishop  of  Missouri  and  his 
widow  writes  me  she  has  no  pictures  of  Williams. 
No  administration  was  ever  had  on  his  estate  in 
Wisconsin. 

272 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

There  is  at  Appieton  a  small  blank  book  in 
possessionof  Miss  Anna  L.  Tenneywith  "Eleazer 
Williams"  stamped  all  over  the  cover,  which 
contains  the  Hymn:  "Great  Godl  with  wonder  and 
with  praise, "  translated  into  the  Indian  tong-ue  by 
Rev.  Mr.  Williams,  page  281.  There  are  nine 
verses,  the  first  one  begins  with — "Ni  ish  tsi  ni  sia 
ta  no  ran,"  etc.  It  is  possible,  none  can  read  his 
numerous  Indian  translations  and  works,  now 
almost  a  dead  language;  but  some  where,  if  not 
now,  some  day,  the  descendants  of  those  who 
were  benefited  by  his  labors  will  sing  to  him, 
"Great  Godl  with  wonder  and  with  praise." 

A  few  years  ago  when  James  Hammond  Trum- 
bull died,  no  one  remained  in  all  the  world  who 
could  read  the  Bible  which  Rev.  John  Eliot 
translated  into  the  Indian  tongue.  Yet  his  work 
will  live  forever.  Only  last  summer  an  Oneida 
Indian  was  ordained  a  deacon,  and  he  was  a 
descendant  of  those  to  whom  Rev.  Mr.  Williams 
preached.  When  John  Wesley  died  it  was  said 
he  left  a  silver  spoon,  a  teapot,  and  the  Metho- 
dist church.  Those  whose  mission  is  in  the 
nobler  walks  of  life,  have  little  time  or  inclination 
to  amass  wealth.  Their  riches  are  in  their  good 
works.  As  a  missionary.  Rev.  Eleazer  Williams" 
met  with  the  most  wonderful  success  that  ever 
followed  the  labor  of  any  man  among  savages. 

While  there  is  much  of  attractive  interest  and 
a  flash  of  romance  in  the  gossip  which  seeks  to 

273 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

discover  the  lost  King-,  in  the  person  of  Rev. 
Eleazer  Williams,  yet  it  is  only  g;ossip  or  the 
evidence  which  a  court  would  dignify  by  the 
name  of  hearsay  evidence  and  thus  inadmisable; 
and  the  case  would  be  dismissed  without  g^oing- 
to  the  jury.  However,  there  is  a  court  of  public 
opinion,  whose  rules  of  evidence  are  more  elastic. 
This  court  will  ever  discover  in  each  particular 
of  this  half  century  old,  twice  told  tale,  themes 
of  animated  discussion  which  thoug-h  tinged  with 
a  mixture  of  romance  and  fact  will  keep  it  alive 
in  perennial  freshness,  a  never  ending  stor}'^  as 
strong  as  holy  writ,  full  of  mystery  and  expecta- 
tion of  still  undiscovered  facts.  At  the  beginning 
of  our  study  of  the  subject,  we  held  a  different 
view  and  the  examination  of  the  evidence  has  led 
us  to  believe  Eleazer  Williams  to  be  Louis  XVII, 
though  our  only  purpose  has  been  to  present  in  a 
connected  history,  the  entire  story  of  Louis  XVII 
the  uncrowned  King  of  France,  whose  sad  story 
will  out  live  the  ages.  If  there  was  positive 
proof  on  the  identity  of  any  of  the  stories  of  the 
end  of  the  dear  child  whom  Marie  Antoinette  so 
fondly  loved,  there  would  be  no  mystery.  We 
believe  an  impartial  unbiased  person  must  find 
from  the  testimony  that  the  Little  King  was 
taken  alive  from  the  Temple,  and  to  America 
into  northern  New  York,  into  the  family  of  the 
Mohawk  Indian  whom  the  whites  called  Thomas 
Williams,     named     by     his    French    conductors 

274 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

Lazare,  and  afterwards  became  the  missionary, 
whose  fiery  eloquence  swept  a  whole  tribe  of 
heathens  into  the  arms  of  the  church.  He  was 
not  a  Creole,  but  was  a  Prince. 


I 


^r 


275 


XXIII 

FAMILY  AND  DESCENDANTS. 

THE  wife  of  Eleazer  Williams,  was  named  by 
her  parents,  Mar}' Magdalene,  she  was  born 
in  1809,  at  Green  Bay  of  French  father;  and 
mother,  half  French  and  half  Menomonee.  After 
their  marriage  when  she  was  fourteen  years  of 
age  they  repaired  to  their  new  house  at  their 
forest  estate  at  Little  Kaukauna,  where  she 
resided  the  rest  of  her  life  except  a  few  years 
when  they  leased  the  home.  Here  were  born  to 
them  three  children.  Two  girls  died  in  infancy, 
one  in  the  fall  of  1841.  Their  son  John  Lawe 
Williams,  named  for  the  rich  trader  of  Green  Bay, 
was  born  at  their  forest  home,  January  1,  1825. 
At  her  confirmation  in  the  famous  Trinitj^  Church 
on  Broadway  in  New  York  City  by  Bishop 
Hobart  he  gave  her  the  name  of  Mary  Hobart 
Williams,  w^hich  she  bore  ever  after.  She  lived 
twenty  eight  years  after  the  death  of  her  husband, 
and  died  in  her  home,  July  22,  1886,  and  was 
buried  in  Woodlawn  Cemetery  (protestant)  at 
Green  Bay.  As  described  by  visitors,  "her 
house  was  as  neat  as  wax. "  In  her  old  age  much 
of  her  time  was  spent  sitting  on  a  broad  sofa 
near  the  ancient  fireplace.  She  could  speak 
French  very  well,  and  was  versed  in  English 
which  she  easily  read  and  wrote.  Her  quaint 
diary  was  written  in  a  well,  rounded  perfect 
English  scrip.  It  w^as  a  record  of  the  country 
side  for  generations,  making  note  of  every  birth, 

276 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

death,  marriage,  or  other  events;  also  the  name 
and  date  of  every  boat  which  passed  her  window. 
It  even  g-ave  Indian  names  to  every  cow  and 
animal  on  the  premises,  and  noted  the  offspring- 
with  a  name  ready  at  hand,  giving-  the  day  of  the 
month  and  year  of  its  birth.  Some  of  these  were 
kept  in  old  account  books,  until  filled.  One  of 
them  is  a  store  pass  book  utilized  for  the  purpose. 
She  is  described  as  a  ''neighborly,  kindly  hand- 
some old  lady.'' 

One  week  before  her  death  she  made  her  will, 
which  was  witnessed,  by  Dr.  F.  L.  Lewis  and 
Mr.  Van  Buren  Brownley,  wherein  she  is  des- 
cribed as  Mary  Hobart  Williams,  "widow  of  the 
late  Rev.  Eleazer  Williams,  popularly  known  as 
the  alleged  Dauphin,  son  of  Louis  XVI,  King  of 
France.*'  It  gives  to  Hon.  Morgan  L.  Martin  all 
her  books,  manuscripts,  and  the  oil  portrait  of 
her  husband,  in  trust  to  sell  and  pay  the  proceeds 
to  her  grandson  George  Williams;  the  balance  of 
her  property  she  bequeathed  to  Josephine  Penney 
who  was  born  in  her  house,  with  the  condition 
that  she  care  for  her  mother  Nan,  during  her 
life.  Written  on  the  will  was  a  memoranda:  "I 
wish  to  be  buried  in  Woodlawn  Cemeter}'.  That 
my  finger  ring  be  given  to  Mrs.  Fay,  daughter  of 
Mrs.  Dequedre;  to  be  buried  with  my  silk  dress, 
and  have  on  the  ear  rings  in  the  tin  box  in  the 
bureau."  By  this  will  Josephine  Penne}^  came 
into  possession  of  the  old  Williams  homestead, 

277 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

consistirifjf  now  of  sixty-five  acres  of  land  and 
appraised  as  valued  at  ^975.00.  The  personal 
property  consisting-  of  farm  implements,  stock, 
and  household  furniture  was  appraised  at  §252.20. 
The  books  were  not  listed  in  the  records  of  Pro- 
bate, but  the  memoranda  on  tile  show  that  a  few 
of  the  books  were  sold  for  $12.25;  the  balance, 
mostly  sermons  sold  through  West  book  Co.,  of 
Milwaukee  for  $5.00;  and  that  the  oil  painting 
of  Rev.  Mr.  Williams  by  Catlin  was  taken  by  the 
the  Wisconsin  Historical  Society  for  $50.00.  The 
debts  amounting  to  $65.65,  being^  expenses  of  last 
sickness  and  burial,  were  jDaid  from  the  sale  of 
effects. 

A  narrative  of  Mother  Williams  is  not  complete 
without  mention  of  the  faithful  Indian  servant, 
whom  all  visitors  saw  at  their  home.  Her  name 
was  Mary  Jane  Garrety,  nic  named  by  John 
Williams,  "Nan."  She  was  a  Menomonee,  except 
the  slight  strain  of  white  blood  from  her  grand- 
mother who  was  a  captive  white  child  married 
to  a  Menomonee  Indian.  Nan  was  born  Septem- 
ber, 1821,  and  died  twelve  years  after  her  niistress, 
March  29,  1898,  and  was  buried  three  miles  from 
the  old  Homestead,  at  Schneiderville,  where  her 
daughter  Josephine  has  erected  a  monument  for 
her.  At  a  verj'^  early  age  she  came  to  mother 
Williams  and  remained  there  all  her  life,  a  faithful 
servant  on  whom  mother  Williams  depended  for 
most  of  the  work. 

278 


Mr.  George  Williams,  1904 

The  last  of  the  Bourbons,  and  only  rightful  claimant  to  the  French  throne - 
From  a  recent  photograph — Grandson  of  Eleazer  Williams. 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

In  1853,  Nan  married  Andrew  Penney  an  indigent 
Frenchman,  who  deserted  her  before  her  child 
was  born.  Five  years  before  this  John  Lawe 
Williams  had  moved  onto  his  farm  atWinneconne, 
and  Rev.  Eleazer  Williams  was  constantly 
engaged  at  Washington  and  the  east,  leaving 
Mother  Williams  at  home  with  Nan  as  her  only 
companion.  When  Nan's  child  Josphine,  was 
born,  she  also  formed  part  of  the  household  at 
home  after  school  hours  to  help  on  the  farm. 
After  Mother  William's  death,  Josephine  became 
owner  of  the  old  Williams  homestead  as  stated 
by  the  devise  of  Mrs.  Williams,  and  still  owns 
the  property.  The  whole  Williams  household, 
even  to  Nan,  believed  that  Rev.  Mr.  Williams  was 
the  legitimate  King  of  France.  His  son  John,  his 
son's  widow,  and  their  son  George,  firmly  believed 
the  story. 

DESCENDANTS. 

John  Lawe  Williams,  only  son  of  Eleazer  Will- 
iams, was  born  in  Green  Bay,  January  1,  1825; 
where  he  was  educated  and  remained  until  Aug- 
ust 7,  1849,  when  he  purchased  a  farm  in  Winne- 
conne  and  moved  onto  it.  When  sixteen  years  of 
age  he  traveled  east  with  his  father  as  related  in 
auother  place,  and  met  the  Prince  de  Joinville  at 
the  same  time  with  his  father  when  returning 
home.  When  he  was  twenty-six  years  of  age,  he 
married,  December  26,  1851,  at  Fond  du  Lac,  Miss 
Jane  Pattison  Enery  who  was  born  December  26, 

279 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

1836.  Her  father  and  mother  were  born  in  Ire- 
land, where  Paul  Enery  her  father  was  educated 
for  the  priesthood,  but  disliking-  this,  emigrated 
to  Fredericton,  New  Brunswick,  and  taught 
school,  and  married.  There  were  seven  children 
born  to  them,  of  whom  Mrs.  S.  R.  Clark,  Mrs. 
Matt  Hasbrouck,  and  widow  of  John  Lawe  Will- 
iams are  now  living  in  Oshkosh.  Mrs.  Judge 
George  Gary  was  a  daughter.  Mr.  C.  W.  Stribley 
has  in  his  possession  the  diary  kept  by  John  L. 
Williams  in  1841,  2,  3,  4,  6  and  7. 

John  Lawe  Williams  sold  his  farm  and  resided 
in  Oshkosh,  which  was  his  home  until  his  death. 
He  was  fatally  injured  while  in  the  woods  at 
Tigerton,  and  died  the  next  day,  September  22, 
1883.  Rev.  F.  R.  Haff,  Episcopal  rector  con- 
ducted the  service  at  the  home  on  Mount  Vernon 
street  in  Oshkosh,  and  Colonel  Gabe  Bouck  at 
the  grave  in  the  Masonic  Cemeter}-,  acted  as 
Grand  Master  of  the  Masonic  order  which  had 
charge  of  the  funeral. 

Their  three  children  were,  George,  Louis  and 
Eugene;  the  last  two  were  born  in  Oshkosh  and 
are  not  now  living.  George  Williams,  their  old- 
est child  was  born  at  Wlnneconne,  November  8, 
1852.  He  now  resides  in  St.  Louis,  has  been  mar- 
ried since  1884,  but  no  children  have  been  born  to 
them,  so  that  this  Bourbon  line  will  end  w'ith 
George  Williams  the  only  true  King-  of  France 
now  living;  the  last  of  the  Bourbons. 

280 


William's  Brass  Candle  and  Memoranda 

Book  page  273,  Miss  Anna  L.  Tenney  collection,  Appleton,  from  her 
own  kodak. 


XXIV 

GOLD,  SILVER,  BRASS  AND  CHINA. 

ELEAZER  WILLIAMS  was  the  recipient  o 
many  rich  gifts  of  gold,  silver,  and  brass,  as 
well  as  books.  I  cannot  trace  the  present 
possessor  of  the  gold  cross  and  star  of  the  order  of 
St.  Louis,  which  is  illustrated  on  the  sash  in  the 
picture  page  154,  and  which  he  says:  "I  received 
from  the  Indian  family  of  which  I  supposed  my- 
self a  member,''  in  writing  to  Dr.  Stephen  W. 
Williams,  September  23,  1853.  Some  one  sent 
him  an  oil  painting  of  Louis  XVI  on  wood,  which 
as  navigation  had  closed  he  left  at  Mr.  Brown's 
hotel  in  Sheboygan,  about  fifty-five  years  ago 
and  never  called  for  it.  It  is  still  in  possession 
of  Mrs.  L.  H.  Jones,  their  daughter,  who  reports 
it  as  too  dark  by  age  for  photograjDhing.  Some 
one  gave  him  a  picture  of  Louis  XVIII,  which 
was  said  to  resemble  Rev.  Mr.  Williams. 

Some  one  in  France  sent  to  Eleazer  Williams  a 
case  containing  a  number  of  pieces  of  gold 
jewelry,  supposed  to  have  been  worn  by  Marie 
Antoinette,  and  with  them  were  two  engravings 
executed  in  France,  cabinet  size,  one  of  Louis 
XVI,  and  one  of  Marie  Antoinette,  both  with 
square  black  stucco  frames.  The  jewelry  was 
retained  by  mother  Williams,  who  gave  the  royal 

281 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

portraits  to  her  son,  John  L.  Williams,  and  his 
widow,  still  has  them  in  her  parlor  at  Oshkosh. 
I  do  not  know  the  present  ownership  of  the 
jewelry.  In  1832,  George  Catlin  painted  in  oil  the 
portrait  of  Rev.  Eleazer  Williams.  For  fifty-live 
years  this  i^ainting  adorned  the  walls  of  the  log 
cabin  home  of  Rev.  Mr.Williamsonthe  bank  of  the 
Fox  River.  For  nearly  thirty  years  Mother 
Williams  kept  those  jiortraites  of  King  Louis 
XVI,  and  Marie  Antoinette,  hanging  upon  either 
side  of  the  oil  painting  of  her  husband.  In  1887 
the  Historical  Society  of  Madison,  came  into  pos- 
session of  the  oil  painting  b}^  purchase  for  the 
sum  of  fifty  dollars,  from  Morgan  L,  Martin, 
administrator  of  the  estate  of  Mary  Hobart 
Williams. 

Hearing  the  story  of  Eleazer  Williams,  a  gentle 
lady  of  Northampton,  Mass.,  presented  him  with 
a  beautiful  brocade  silk  dress,  with  a  train  twelve 
feet  long.  The  note  accompanying  the  gift  was 
as  follows:  "Presented  to  Rev.  Eleazer  Williams, 
with  respectful  regards  of  Mrs.  Edward >Clark  of 
Northampton.  Being  in  England  some  3^ears 
since,  I  had  an  opportunity  there  to  purchase 
this  dress,  once  worn  by  Queen  Marie  Antoinette, 
of  France.  It  had  been  bought  at  the  court  by  a 
gentleman  attached  at  that  time  to  our  embassy. 
I  was  informed  that  the  dresses  once  worn  by  the 
queen,  were  afterward  distributed  among  the 
ladies  of  the  Court,  who  would  sometimes  dispose 

282 


>  s 


PRINCE       OR      CREOLE 

of  them  in  this  manner  at  auction.  Round  Hill, 
Northampton,  Mass.,  Jan.  3,  1851."  Rev.  Mr.  Wil- 
liams kept  this  old  faded  silk  gown  by  him  during" 
the  remainder  of  his  life,  and  ten  years  after  his 
death  it  was  listed  in  the  Rev.  Robertson  inven- 
tory of  William's  effects  at  ten  dollars,  and  finally 
cut  into  small  pieces  and  sold  as  souvenirs,  for 
the  benefit  of  the  estate.  Mary  E.  Seaver  of 
Malone  recalls  the  dress  as,  "brocade  white  satin 
and  small  designs  colored  like  Dresden  decora- 
tions."  Mrs.  E.  W.  Knowlton  of  Malone  has  a 
fragment  in  her  possession.  The  pair  of  octagon 
silver  candlesticks,  given  to  John  L.  Williams  by 
his  mother,  were  intended  by  him  for  the  Histori- 
cal Society  of  Madison  and  he  consulted  Judge 
Washburn  as  to  the  method  of  making  the  gift, 
but  in  the  meantime  they  were  left  by  him  in  the 
Masonic  Lodge  at  Oshkosh,  where  they  were 
destroyed  in  the  "Great  fire,"  April  28,  1875, 
which  consumed  the  lodge,  and  all  its  contents 
except  some  of  the  records,  and  swept  over  the 
best  part  of  the  city.  A  brass  candlestick  was 
obtained  at  the  old  homestead  by  Miss  Anna  L. 
Tenney,  who  still  retains  it  at  her  home  in  Apple- 
ton  (page  281).  A  royal  set  of  brass  andirons, 
exquisitely  shaped  and  perhaps  unequalled  in 
beauty  by  any  other  ever  in  the  west,  were  pur- 
chased of  the  administration  of  mother  Williams 
estate,  by  Mrs.  C.  F.  Button  of  Wausaukee.  A 
china  teapot,  sugar  bowl  and  cream  pitcher  pink 

283 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

lustre  are  in  the  collection  ol  Hon.  A.  J.  Reid  of 
Appleton  (page  283).  The  four  beveled  edge,  solid 
wood  bottom,  spindle  back,  turned  leg  chairs, 
purchased  by  Eleazer  Williams  from  Lieutenant 
John  W.  Cotton  of  Fort  Howard,  in  1825,  are  still 
at  the  old  homestead,  except  one,  which  many 
3'ears  ago  came  into  possession  of  Judge  Morgan 
L.  Martin,  who  had  the  top  of  the  side  spindles 
and  the  legs  tipped  with  brass,  the  seat  uphol- 
stered, and  the  body  stained  mahogan5^  It  is 
still  at  his  old  homestead.  The  arm  chair  with  the 
leathern  cushion  used  by  Rev.  Mr.  "Williams  in  his 
chapel  office  is  still  at  the  old  homestead,  having 
survived  the  office.  The  old  hair  deer  skin  trunk, 
iron  bound,  which  carried  the  important  papers, 
books,  sermons  and  wardrobe  of  the  uncrowned 
king,  up  and  down  the  land  for  many  years, 
finally  rejected  and  dumped  among  the  rubbish  in 
the  barn  at  the  old  home,  was  resurrected  from 
destruction  by  Mr.  John  C.  Mitchell  of  Kaukauna. 
It  has  the  initials  E.  W.,  in  large  bold  capitals  on 
the  cover,  made  of  brass  covered  sadler  nails. 
The  sword  carried  by  Williams  through  the  war 
of  1812,  as  a  general  of  scouts,  is  in  possession  of 
the  widow  of  John  L.  Williams  at  Oshkosh;  and 
the  brass  eagle  from  the  flagstaff  of  his  command 
is  owned  by  Dr.  H.  B.  Kendall  at  Menasha.  Mrs. 
Chester  W.  Smith  of  Kilbourn,  Wis.,  mentions 
a  jewelled  snuff  box  of  Rev.  Mr.  Williams  which 
I  cannot  locate,  and  a  gold  snuff  box  the  gift  of 

284 


:U 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

the  Prince  de  Joinville  is  mentioned  by  Mr.  Par- 
son, (see  appendix  V).  Mrs.  John  L.  Williams 
writes  me:  "I  thoug-ht  the  uniform  was  in  the 
Historical  Library  rooms  at  Madison.  The  last 
time  I  saw  it,  it  was  in  a  very  bad  condition, 
smoke  stained  and  moth  eaten,  so  was  the  flag. 
Both  looked  as  if  they  had  seen  hard  service." 
But  none  of  these  can  be  found.  "I  do  not  dis- 
cover in  our  museum  any  relics  of  Eleazer  Wil- 
liams, save  the  oil  painting;  the  neck  band  which 
he  wore  during  the  period  of  his  ministry;  a  cop- 
per kettle;  and  a  great  many  manuscripts  written 
by  him;  his  diary,  and  numerous  sermons  copied 
by  him  into  the  Oneida  language,"  writes  Dr. 
Reuben  G.  Thwaites,  Secretary  of  the  Historical 
Society.  The  large  field  glass  carried  by  him 
through  the  war,  and  his  spurs  are  still  at  the  old 
homestead,  owned  by  Mary  Phillips,  daughter  of 
Josephine.  A  dozen  silver  spoons  given  by  Mother 
Williams  as  a  post  mortem  gift  to  Dr.  H.  B.  Ken- 
dall of  Menasha,  he  still  retains;  and  a  sterling 
silver  spoon  once  owned  by  Williams  is  at  the 
library  in  Menasha. 

Mrs.  Susan  Hough,  of  Green  Bay,  has  an  im- 
mense china  platter,  old  blue  colonial,  given  to 
her  by  Mother  Williams.  But  Mrs.  Francis  Law- 
ton  Dunham,  of  DePere  has  the  largest  and  finest 
collection  of  Williams  china,  silver,  pewter  and 
wooden  designs,  anywhere  to  be  seen.  She  has 
twenty-two  pieces  of  china,  four  Sheffield  plates 

285 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

and  a  quantity  of  wooden  pieces,  besides  tbe 
eighty  books  mentioned  in  another  place.  The 
china  consists  of  one  large  soup  tureen,  old  blue 
Ridgway;  soup  plate,  E.  and  E.  W.  Pekin,  Pearl 
china  incised;  light  blue  plate,  pearl  china, 
(Page  285);  four  blue  plates  and  octagon  pitcher 
to  match;  large  soup  plate,  large  plate,  sugar 
bowl,  teapot  and  three  cups  and  saucers  all  to 
match,  with  blue  corner  grapes,  chelsea  ware 
N.  S.  0.,  (Page  286);  a  beautiful  pink  lustre  cup 
and  saucer;  two  toy  cups  and  saucers.  Also  a 
low  delft  cup,  yellow  white  lining,  which  Nan  said 
was  Rev.  Mr.  William's  shaving  mug  (Page  285). 
Of  the  Sheffield  plate,  there  are  two  decanter 
stands,  which  Nan  says  were  used  by  Williams  to 
pass  the  bread  at  the  communion;  a  dinner  castor 
with  six  bottles;  a  low  plate  warmer  with  lead 
feet,  has  an  iron  weight  to  heat.  There  is  also 
a  queer  steel  knife  with  wood  handle.  There  are 
carved  moulds  for  maple  sugar,  one  the  shape  of 
a  beaver,  one  of  bear's  paw  and  one  round.  These 
were  said  to  be  great  treasures  among  the  jiatives 
and  descended  from  generation  to  generation, 
and  possibly  belonged  to  Mother  Williams.  There 
is  also  a  long  wooden  ladel  to  stir  the  maple 
sugar,  and  a  small  mocock  of  birch  bark  to  con- 
tain the  sugar. 

Dr.  H.  B.  Tanner  of  Kaukauna,  has  several  let- 
ters written  by  Eleazer  Williams.  There  is  a 
pink  luster  cup  and  saucer  in  possession  of  Mrs. 

286 


^  ; 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

Barton  L.  Parkerof  Green  Bay;  and  an  exquisitely 
carved  bellows  with  which  Eleazer  Williams 
quickened  the  log-  fire  of  the  old  fire  place  now 
owned  by  Mrs.  Eugene  Smith  of  DePere.  Mrs. 
Edwin  Moore,  has  a  i:)itcher  of  blue  and  cream 
stone  ware  decorated  with  figures  in  relief. 
Numerous  other  effects  of  Rev.  Mr.  Williams  are 
still  cherished  among  the  homes  of  the  Pox  River 
Valley  too  numerous  to  detail. 


4^ 


287 


XXV 

RARE  LIBRARY  OP  ELEAZER  WILLIAMS. 

Rev.  Eleazer  Williams  possessed  a  rich  library 
of  rare  and  valuable  books.  He  bad  the  largest 
library  anywhere  in  the  west  in  his  day,  with 
possibly  the  exception  of  the  rare  Percival  col- 
lection. From  the  information  I  gather  of  the 
Williams  library  it  must  have  contained  more  than 
two  thousand  volumes.  When  Rev.  Mr.  Robert- 
son made  his  inventory  now  on  file  in  Malone,  New 
York,  he  found  in  Hogansburg  over  twelve  hun- 
dred books.  But  a  great  many  remained  at  his 
home  inLittle  Kaukauna.  He  frequently  bartered 
his  books  at  Green  Bay  for  a  little  money.  In  this 
manner  Judge  Martin  came  to  possess  some  of 
the  rarest  books  in  his  collection.  The  books  are 
widely  scattered.  The  historical  Library  at  Mad- 
ison reports  no  books  from  this  library.  The 
book  firm  of  H.  H.  West  &  Company,  Milwaukee, 
purchased  a  quantity  in  1888,  but  cannot  trace 
them  now.  At  the  time  of  his  death,  in  his  home- 
stead at  Hogansburg,  there  were  unopened  boxes 
of  books  piled  in  the  room;  but  a  few  weeks  after 
the  event  when  his  son  John  Lawe  Williams  with 
his  wife,  visited  Hogansburg  to  look  after  his 
affairs,  the  house  was  empty.  He  dearly  loved 
his  books.     It  will  be  noticed  in  the  partial  list 

288 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

given  below  their  deep   religious   character  out 
ranks  all  other  subjects. 

In  possession  of  Mrs.  John  Lawe  Williams, 
Oshkosh:  Christ  our  Life,  Angus;  The  Hugenots, 
2  Vol.  1843;  Jonstone's  Chemistry;  View  of  the 
United  States,  published  1820;  North  America,  Imlay, 
1797;^  Tour  of  New  York  to  Detroit,  1819;  Manual 
of  Family  Prayers,  Bishop  Blomfields,  1831;  Horace 
Paulinal,  William  Paley,  1805;  Hebrew  Prophet, 
1837;  Frencli  Eevolution,  M.  A.  Thiers,  2  Vol,  1843. 
Some  of  the  above  books  have  the  name  "E. 
Williams"  in  lead  pencil.  Williard's  United  States, 
N.  Y.,  1842;  Memoirs  of  Napoleon,  M.  de  Bour- 
rienne,  1835;  Life  of  Lafayette,  S.  Andrus  and  son, 
1847;  Burgoyne's  Campaign,  Charles  Neilson,  Al- 
bany, 1844;  Life  of  Jefferson,  William  Linn,  Ithaca, 
1843;  Life  of  Kirkland,  Lathrop,  Boston,  1848; 
Whately  on  St.  Paul,  N.  Y.  1831:  The  Young  Chris- 
tian, Jacob  Abbott,  Boston;  Life  of  Piev.  James 
Hervey,  Hamilton,  1848;  Oxford  'Theology,  Venburg 
Livingston,  N.  Y.  1841;  The  Parish  Library,  N.  Y. 
10  Vols.  1832;  Home  Education,  Isaac  Taylor,  N.  Y., 
1838;  Yamayden,  a  tale  of  the  wars  of  King  Phillip, 
N.  Y.  1820;  The  Backwoods  of  Canada,  Charles 
Knight,  1832;  Elegant  Extracts,  1816;  Haskins  As- 
tronomy, 1841,  with  writing  on  fly-leaf — "Rev.  E. 
Williams,  with  regards  of  the  author,  Buffalo, 
June  21,  1841;  Zaco7i  or  Many  Things  in  few  words. 
Rev.  C.  C.  Colton,  N.  Y.  1821;  a  total  of  38 
Volumes. 

289 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

In  possession  of  Judge  E.  G.  Ellis  of  Green 
Bay:  "I  bought  of  Judge  Martin,  Blair's  Lectures 
and  3Iurrm/s  Reader.'" 

In  possession  of  George  Utz,  cashier  National 
Bank,  Menasha,  who  purchased  them  of  Judge 
Martin  for  fifty  cents— Price's  Sermons,  London, 
1787;  Hist,  of  Christianity,  Priestlj%  Boston,  1797; 
a  bound  volume  made  up  of  pamphlets  of  funeral 
sermons. 

Owned  by  Miss  Deborah  B.  Martin,  Green  Bay: 
Hennepin,  1698.  This  is  an  original  published  in 
French  in  Amsterdam.  Written  on  inside — "M. 
L.  Martin,  1831."  Journal  Historeque.  by  Joutel, 
Paris,  1713.  This  is  an  original  in  French; 
written  inside  in  French;  "Owned  by  the  Aca- 
demy at  Quebec  1778. " 

History  of  Neiv  France,  De  Charlevoix,  Paris, 
1745,  8  volumes.  This  is  an  original  published  in 
French. 

The  book  of  Common  Prayer,  etc.,  Mark  Baskett 
1766.  It  is  16  inches  long,  10  inches  wide  and  one 
and  a  half  inches  thick.  On  the  fly  lea,f  there 
is  written  infine,  large  letters,  "Presented  by 
Rector,  Wardens  and  vestry  of  King's  Chapel 
in  Boston  to  Reverend  Mr.  Williams,  Pastor  of 
the  Oneidas,  November,  1816." 

Owned  by  Mr.  M.  D.  Kimball,  Milwaukee: 
Senecas  Morals  by  Roger  L.  Estrange  Knt.  15th.  ed. 
London,  1746.  Written  inside— "M.  D.  Kimball, 
Green  Bay,  August   14,    1892,"   who  received  it 

290 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

from  his  sister,  who  inscribed  on  fore  cover,  "I 
secured  this  volume  from  'Old  Nan'  for  many- 
years  servant  in  the  home  of  Eleazer  Williams. 
She  still  lives  at  the  old  mission  house  at  Little 
Kaukauna  and  firmly  believes  him  to  have  been 
the  Lost  Dauphin,"  sgd.  "Sara  Sale." 

Owned  by  Miss  Anna  L.  Tenney,  Appleton — 
Sword's  Pocket  Almanac,  1824,  New  York;  Ameri- 
can Spelling  book,  Noah  Webster,  Hartford,  1821, 
written  on  the  fly  leaf:  "John  Williams,  Green 
Bay;"  Flint's  Dictionary,  Hartford,  1806;  Paley's 
Christianity,  New  York,  1814,  written  on  the  cover, 
"E.  Williams;"  Christian  Monitor,  No.  18,  1811. 
On  the  fly  leaf  is  written— "A.  G.  Ellis;  New  Tes- 
tament, New  York,  1830,  Cover  has  printed  label 
— "Female  Bible  and  Prayer  book  society,  St. 
John's  Church,  Canandaiqua;"  Classical  letters; 
London,  1817;  Christian  Monitor-,  History  oi  Jesuits, 
History  q/  Mass.,  Boston  1831;  Sermons  by  Blair,  3d 
vol.  Phil.  1794,  written  on  fly  leaf,  "from  Mrs. 
Sarah  Patten,  Hartford,  Conn.  1826;"  The  Psalter 
of  David,  with  canticle  painted  for  chanting-. 
Miss  Tenney  has  given  away  the  last  four  books. 
In  possession  of  Miss  Agnes  L.  Dwight,  Appleton: 
Croly  on  St.  John,  Philadelphia,  1827. 

In  possession  of  William  W.  Wight,  Milwau- 
kee: Episcopal  Prayer  Book,  in  French  language, 
New  York  1803;  Practical  Discourses,  by  Rev. 
Daniel  Williams,  Vol.  I.,  London  1738,  on  fly  leaf: 
"From   Eleazer  Williams  library,    Presented  to 

291 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

Mr.  William  W.  Wight  by  Francis  L.  Dunham, 
DePere,  Wisconsin,  Dec.  3rd,  1903;"  Tracts,  being 
a  bound  volume  of  polemical  sermons;  Essays  to 
do  Good,  Cotton  Mather,  New  York,  1815,  also  at 
head  of  preface  this :  "Presented  to  Miss  Catharine 
Nichols,  as  a  testimony  of  the  approbation  of  her 
affectionate  L.  Huntley,  Hartford,  June  10,  1816," 
in  the  writing  of  the  poetess;  The  Child's 
Catechism,  by  Nahum  Mower,  Montreal,  1809; 
Hymns  for  Infant  Minds,  Boston  1812;  Nathaniel 
Ames  Alm,a7iac,  1749,  has  "William  Williams"  on 
fly  leaf.  All  the  above  have  same  Mrs.  Dunham 
presentation  as  above. 

Owned  by  P.  V.  Lawson,  Menasha,  Wisconsin: 
Extracts  from  Scriptures.  Boston,  1815;  Bhetorick, 
Blair,  Concord,  1830;  Walks  of  Usefulness,  Campbell, 
N.  Y.  1812;  Baptist  Manual,  Phil.,  1835;  Sacred  His- 
tory, Turner,  N.  Y.  1835;  Christian  Monitor;  Greek 
and  English  Lexicon,  Bass,  London,  1829;  System 
of  Theology,  Livingston,  N.  Y.  1832;  Happiness  of 
the  Blessed,  Mant,  Phil.,  1833;  Constitution  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  Phil.,  1839;  Exposition,  But- 
ler, about  1820;  End  of  Religious  Controversey ,  Mil- 
ner,  Baltimore,  1818. 

Owned  by  O.  E.  Clark,  Appleton:  Juvenile 
Repository,  July,  1811;  Callto  the  Unconverted,  Baxter, 
1825,  on  fly  leaf;  "Mary  Battle  to  Mary  Williams, 
Dec.  9,  1841;  Geography,  by  Jedidiah  Morse,  Bos- 
ton, 1806;  Astronomical  Almanac,  1784,  Hartford; do., 
for  1760,  by  Nathaniel  Ames,  Boston.     Owned  by 

292 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

Mrs.  Francis  Lawton  Dunham,  DePere:  Novum 
Testamentum  Graecium,  Dakins,  London,  1808; 
Bible,  1808;  New  Testament,  1812;  Jesws  Obinadisiwiu, 
Ojanda,  A  King-,  Paris  1837;  Gospel  St.  Mathew,  in 
Mohawk  language,  presented  to  Rev.  E.  Williams 
by  Joseph  "VV.  Powless,  Dec.  6,  1842,  missionary 
to  Onandagos;  Lenni  Lenape,  Indian  Grammar, 
1816,  given  to  "Rev.  Williams  by  the  American 
Philosophical  Society;"  Historie  Abregsi:  Zelotes, 
by  Cotton  Mather,  1717,  written  on  fly  leaf  "Wil- 
liam Williams;"  Beligious  Affections,  by  Jonathan 
Edwards,  Boston,  1824;  Duty  of  Christian,  1794; 
Psalms,  by  Isaac  Watts,  Woodstock,  Vt.  1824, 
written  "presented  by  Mr.  Edward  Cook,  Hart- 
ford, Conn.";  The  Dairyman's  Daughter,'^  1812; 
Address  to  Young  Christians;  Evangelical  Tracts,  24 
of  them  in  all;  the  four  Evangelists  by  Newcome, 
1809;  Call  to  Unconverted,  Albany,  1811,  presented, 
"from  Mrs.  Sarah  Potter,  Hartford,  Conn.,  1826;" 
Weeks  preparation  jor  the  unconverted,  by  Bishop 
John  Henry  Hobart,  D.  D.,  "to  Mary  Hobart  Wil- 
liams from  J.  H.  Hobart;"  Christian  Religion:  Mliole 
duty  of  man:  Jeusuit  Juggling,  Baxter,  N.  Y.  1835; 
Tryal  of  a  Saving  Interest  in  Christ,  Boston,  1701, 
"property  of  Tho.  Croswell,  1725,"  et  al;  Essays 
to  do  Good,  1808,  Cotton  Mather;  Christian  Monitor, 
1807;  Popery,  1836,  Orations  of  Cicero,  London  1758, 
written  "David  Dickenson  book,  1776;"  Cookery, 
London  1816;  Voyage  of  Anson,  round  the  world, 
Dublin,  1819;  Juliana  Oakley  by  Mrs.    Sherwood, 

293 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

Tlie  Spy;  Works  of  Henry  Fielding,  Vol.  14-1819; 
Childs  Catechism,  French  1819;  A  Token  for  Children, 
1795.  And  man}''  other  books  on  similar  subjects 
to  the  total  number  of  eighty,  some  bound  in 
leather,  some  in  cloth  and  a  number  in  paper. 

Mr.  Charles  W.  Stribley  of  Kaukauna,  has 
books :  L  iving  Man  ners,  Phil. ,  1822 ;  A^eiv  Testament, 
1822;  Harmony  in  Ch'eek,  1828;  Clergyman's  Compan- 
ion Yol.  I.,  1828;  English  Ch'ammar^  Ingersoll,  N. 
Y.  1822;  Christian  Monitor,  contains  written  "David 
Dickenson  1807;  Welche's  Arithmetic,  1834,  with 
autograph:  "John  L.  Williams,  1840;"  Christian 
Theology  1826;  Arithmetic,  McDonald,  Norwich,  1795. 

Emily  V.  Keever  of  Freeport,  111.,  has  a  music 
book  in  which  Rev.  Mr.  Williams  wrote  simple 
tunes  and  monosyllable  words  for  his  Indian 
converts. 

About  the  year  1853,  Eleazer  Williams  traveled 
through  New  England  in  search  of  Indian  stories 
of  experiences  of  the  pioneers  for  a  book  he  pro- 
posed to  write.  While  at  Char] estown,  N.  H.,  he 
saw  a  book  containing  accounts  of  white  people 
captive  among  the  Indians.  As  he  could  not  buy 
it,  Mr.  Robertson  gave  him  his  copy. 

Dr.  King  of  Green  Bay  possessed  a  great  num- 
ber of  Williams  books.  They  were  great  friends. 
Mrs.  Kate  King  Ramsey  of  Appleton,  has  one  of 
these.  Exposition  of  the  Epistle  of  Hebrews,  1731, 
Edinburg.  He  often  sold  Dr.  King  his  books  and 
would  then  borrow  them  back  in  armfuls. 

294 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

Mr.  Clinton  Stevens  of  Malone,  N.  Y.,  has  a 
book  from  the  Williams  library;  and  Mrs.  H.  A. 
Taylor  of  Malone  has  one  of  his  Manuscript  Ser- 
mons. Mr.  John  W.  Knapp  of  Beaver,  Penn.,  has 
a  leather  bound  Volume  of  Sermons  in  French  dat- 
ing back  to  1693  with  occasional  special  notes, 
and  on  the  fly  leaf  in  pencil  "Louis  Roi  1707." 

Mrs.  Martha  Grange  of  Fort  Covington,  N.  Y., 
has  ''Life  of  the  Bauphin,''  given  by  Rev.  "Williams 
to  her  at  one  of  her  visits  to  him  during  his  last 
illness  at  Hogansburg.  He  frequently  preached 
in  their  town  house  to  the  few  Episcopalians  at 
Fort  Covington  and  while  there  made  his  home 
with  Richard  Grange.  '  'Lfe  of  the  Dauphin"  is  an 
English  translation  from  the  French  by  Percival, 
rector  at,  Bucks,  England,  1838,  London.  It 
accepts  as  a  fact  the  death  of  the  Dauphin  in  the 
Temple.  There  are  numerous  led  pencil  correc- 
tions to  the  text. 


•^|? 


295 


APPENDIX  I. 

HEARD   ELEAZEK    WILLIAMS    PREACH. 

Menasha,  Wise,  July  18,  1904. 
p.  V.  Lawson,  Esq., 
My  Dear  Sir:— 

In  response  to  your  request  that  I 
would  write  you  an  account  of  the  occasion  on 
which  I  was  fortunate  enough  to  see  Eleazer 
Williams,  I  send  you  the  following  brief  sketch, 
which  is  true  as  far  as  my  memory  serves  me 
after  the  lapse  of  many  years.  In  the  early  50's 
of  the  last  century  (I  do  not  remember  the  exact 
year)  when  I  was  a  young  girl,  I  lived  in  the  old 
town  of  Alexandria,  Virginia,  and  with  many 
others  was  much  interested  in  an  article  j^ub- 
lished  at  the  time  in  ^^Putnams  Maqazine,''  called 
'^Have  ive  a  Bourbon  among  us?"  It  impressed  me  as 
a  most  remarkable  and  interesting  story  of  the 
strange  vicissitudes  in  the  life  of  a  ,  Bourbon 
prince,  and  to  my  mind  bore  the  stamp  of  truth. 
My  father  had  visited  Wisconsin  quite  often,  and 
had  taken  up  government  land  in  several  parts 
of  this  State,  and  often  stopped  near  Green  Bay 
which  was  the  place  where  the  land  office  was 
located.  He  was  familiar  with  the  region  where 
Eleazer  Williams  lived  and  had  dined  with  the 
Prince  de  Joinville  during  his  trip  in  the  north- 

296 


PRIXCE      OR      CREOLE 


west,  though  of  course  he  had  no  suspicion  of 
the  Princes  object  in  coming-  to  America.  I  often 
discoursed  the  magazine  article  I  have  referred 
to  with  him,  and  when  we  heard  that  Mr. 
Williams  was  to  be  in  Washington  and  Alexan- 
dria, we  were  a  good  deal  excited  at  the  prospect 
of  seeing  him.  When  he  arrived  he  was  invited 
to  preach  in  St.  Paul's  church.  It  was  an  even- 
ing service,  and  the  church  was  crowded  with  an 
audience,  drawn  either  by  interest  and  no  doubt 
curoisity  to  see  the  man  who  was  the  hero  of  such 
a  romantic  and  thrilling  story.  He  was  intro- 
duced by  the  rector  simph'  as  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Eleazer  Williams  of  Wisconsin.  The  audience 
were  of  course  divided  in  their  ideas  about  him, 
some  scoffed  at  the  story  of  his  royal  descent  and 
expected  to  see  him  an  Indian,  while  others  like 
myself  believed  him  to  be  a  Bourbon.  When  he 
rose  in  the  pulpit  in  full  view  of  the  congrega- 
tion every  doubt  as  to  the  Indian  blood  was  re- 
moved. In  his  appearance  he  had  not  as  far  as 
we  could  see,  a  single  Indian  characteristic.  He 
looked  at  that  time  between  fifty  and  sixty  years 
old.  He  was  grsij,  and  I  think  partially  bald, 
with  fine  ej'-es,  and  as  I  now  remember,  his  face 
rather  aquiline  features,  and  some  people  who 
were  familiar  with  the  old  Bourbon  portrait  saw 
in  him  a  strong  resemblance  to  them.  I  do  not 
remember  much  about  his  accent  in  speaking,  but 
he   gave  us    a  plain  and  rather  dull  sermon,  in 

297 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

which  if  I  remember  rightly,  he  made  no  reference 
to  his  personal  history.  After  the  services  were 
over  he  returned  to  Washing-ton.  In  the  many 
chang-es  in  my  life  the  story  passed  from  my 
mind,  and  I  never  heard  it  again  until  I  came  to 
Menasha  some  twenty  years  ago.  Then  my 
husband  met  a  man  well  known  here,  whose 
name  was  Thomas  Jourdain,  who  was  a  brother- 
in-law  of  Mr.  Williams,  and  heard  the  story  from 
him.  I  have  always  believed  in  its  truth,  and  it 
is  not  stranger  than  other  true  stories  connected 
with  royalty.  Perhaps  at  some  future  day  this 
search  may  be  recalled  as  other  historic  mysteries 
have  been.  Yours  very  truly, 

Sally  McCarty  Pleasants. 

II 

PRINCE  DE  JOINVILLE  RIDES  A  LUMBER  WAGON  TO 
WILLIAMS  HOME. 

The  following  narrative  was  kindly  procured 
for  this  work  by  Francis  Lawton  Dunham  (Mrs. 
J.  S.  Dunham)  of  DePere,  Wisconsin,  who  "had 
a  long  and  interesting  conversation  with  Mrs. 
Sharpe,  taking  notes  as  she  related  the  various 
events,  and  reading  them  over  to  her  afterward. 
She  was  interested  and  willing  to  have  her  recol- 
lection published."  Complete  narative  of  Mrs. 
Harriet  Stewart  Sharpe  as  given  to  Mrs.  Francis 
Lawton  Dunham,  of  DePere,  Dec.  5,  1904: 

298 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

"My  father  Robert  D.  Stewart  came  to  De  Pere 
in  1836,  and  built  the  first  house  on  the  west  side 
of  the  Pox  River  which  was  built  by  a  white  man. 
The  original  house  was  near  the  river,  but  was 
destroyed  and  my  brother  Joseph  built  his  house 
on  the  same  land,  but  nearer  the  road.     It  was 
about  one  mile  from  the  present  bridge  in  DePere, 
and  six  miles  from  Port  Howard  or  Green  Bay. 
I  remember  perfectly  the  visit  of  the  Prince  de 
Joinville    at   our   house,    but   cannot    remember 
exactly  what  year  it  was,  (Oct.  1841).     I  always 
said  that  "We  had  had  the  honor  of  entertain- 
ing the  Prince  de  Joinville."     He  was  a  young 
man    of   fine  and   courtly  manner,    so  elegantly 
dressed    and    so     extremely    polite.     I    do     not 
remember  how  he  got  to  our  house,  but  think  some 
one  must  have  brought  him  up  from  Green  Bay. 
He  came  from  the  Astor  house  on  the  east  side  of 
the  river,  for  there  was  a  road  on  that  side  for 
teams,  and  only  a  trail  on  .the  west  side.     It  is 
very  likely  that  Dan  Whitney  may  have  brought 
him  up  to  the  ferry,  as  3'ou  say  that  his  niece  told 
you  when  you  were  a  young  girl  (1859)  that  "he 
had  a  beautiful  watch  given  him  by  the  Prince  de 
Joinville    for    taking    him    up     to    see    Eleazer 
Williams."     But  no  one  came  across  the  river  but 
the    Prince  and  no  one  went  wp  to   see  Eleazer 
Williams  but   my  father  and  the  Prince.     They 
probably  came  up  as  far  as  the  ferry  and  called 
for  us  to  come  over  and  get  him,  for  my  father 

299 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

kept  the  ferry  at  that  time.  The  river  was  not 
wide  then,  before  the  dam  was  built,  and  a  good 
hard  shove  would  send  a  canoe  clear  across  the 
river,  or  the  passenger  could  paddle  himself 
across.  We  often  did  this  if  my  father  and  broth- 
ers were  in  the  woods.  We  had  a  large  scow 
ferry  to  carry  teams  across.  The  Prince,  came 
to  our  house  for  the  purpose  of  getting  my  father 
to  take  him  up  to  see  Eleazer  Williams.  We 
always  called  him  "Priest  Williams;"  and  they 
rode  up  to  his  house  in  our  heavy  wagon  at  once. 
It  was  a  rough  log  house,  comparatively  new 
then,  about  six  miles  to  the  south  of  our  place; 
where  he  lived  with  his  wife,  Mary  Jourdain,  and 
son  John  who  was  a  little  fellow  then.  They 
stayed  there  for  several  hours,  for  I  remember 
that  our  dinner  was  very  late  between  three  and 
four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  owing  to  their  hav- 
ing stayed  up  there  so  long.  At  the  dinner  table 
the  Prince  seemed  to  feel  very  badly,  he  was 
very  much  depressed  and  showed  it  very  much, 
and  could  not  talk  of  anything  else  bi^t  Priest 
Williams.  He  asked  so  many  questions  about 
him,  and  seemed  so  anxious  to  know  everything 
my  father  could  tell  him.  It  seemed  to  affect  him 
so  much  to  know  that  Priest  Williams,  was  living 
in  such  straightened  circumstances,  in  such  a 
rough  log  house,  with  literally  no  comforts  of  life 
at  all.  Their  house  was  so  poorly  furnished,  no 
chairs   even,  only  stools   with   three  legs,    that 

300 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

the}'  had  made  themselves.  No  carpets,  no  rugs 
and  only  bunk  beds.  I  cannot  remember  what 
he  said,  only  I  kno>,v  he  talked  a  great  deal  about 
it.  They  were  all  the  time  talking"  about  Priest 
Williams  and  the  Prince  seemed  to  feel  so  much, 
his  lack  of  everything-  which  makes  life  at  alJ 
desirable.  After  dinner  was  over  my  father  took 
him  in  the  rough  wagon,  the  only  one  we  had,  to 
Green  Ba}^  and  I  always  thought  it  must  have 
seemed  strange  to  him  to  ride  in  such  a  wagon, 
he  was  so  finely  dressed  and  so  elegant  looking. 
Crossing  the  ferr}'  in  the  scow  they  went  down  to 
Green  Ba}'  on  the  east  side  of  the  river,  and  my 
father  left  him  at  the  Astor  House,  and  came 
home  alone.  He  seemed  to  be  so  thankful  to  my 
father  for  having  taken  him  up  to  see  Priest 
Williams. 

Ialwa3-s thought  the  Prince  de  Joinville  thought 
or  knew  that  Eleazer  Williams  was  the  Dauphin, 
from  the  wa}'  he  talked  at  our  house,  and  his 
feeling  so  depressed  over  him.  It  does  not  seem 
as  though  he  could  of  felt  that  way  over  a  total 
stranger. 

Eleazer  Williams  alwaj's  rode  a  small  black 
Indian  pony,  and  alwaj'S  carried  saddle  bags  at 
the  back  of  his  saddle.  He  invariably  stopped 
at  our  house  in  passing,  to  get  a  drink  of  water, 
for  we  had  a  fine  spring  in  the  cellar.  He  would 
rein  in  his  horse  and  call  out,  "I  want  some  of 
your  white  ale, ""  and  we  children  would  run  down 

301 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

cellar,  and  bring  him  some  cool  fresh  water  from 
the  spring.  We  alwaj^s  liked  him.  I  thought  he 
was  a  nice  man,  and  he  always  seemed  to  be  a 
good  man.  He  was  a  missionarj^  and  we  always 
supposed  he  brought  out  the  Oneida  Indians  to 
the  Reservation  here. 

He  did  not  dress  very  well  for  he  was  very 
poor;  but  I  remember  one  day  he  stopped  at  our 
house,  and  was  so  richly  dressed  in  handsome 
clothes,  and  he  told  us  that  "the  Prince  de  Join- 
ville  had  sent  him  a  box  of  very  nice  things."' 
He  seemed  so  pleased,  and  looked  so  finely.  We 
thought  the  Prince  must  have  sent  him  the 
clothes  he  had  on,  but  he  did  not  say  so;  nor  did 
we  like  to  ask  the  question.  My  father  always 
said  he  thought  it  was  strange  for  the  Prince  to 
be  so  deeply  interested  in  Priest  Williams, 
because  he  himself,  or  we,  had  never  thought  of 
his  being  of  so  much  importance. 

I  do  not  know  how  long  the  Prince  staj^ed  at 
Green  Bay.  He  said  to  us  before  he  left  our  house 
that  he  thought  he  would  come  back  >to  Green 
Bay  next  summer,  and  would  come  up  and  see  us 
again,  at  that  time.  Just  think,  the  only  per- 
sons now  living  in  DePere,  that  have  ever  seen 
Eleazer  Williams  are  Mr.  Perry  Call,  my  husband 
and  mj^self,  and  the  only  time  Mr.  Sharpe  ever 
saw  him,  he — Eleazer  Williams,  was  put  in  his 
room  to  sleep  at  the  old  "DePere  House."  He 
was  sour  and  seemed  to  feel  cross  and  grumbled 

302 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

a  great  deal,  about  the  poor  room  and  beds.  No 
chairs  in  the  room,  and  he  could  not  find  any 
basin  to  wash  in." 

"Truthfully  recorded  by  Francis  Lawton  Dun- 
ham."    DePere,  Wis.,  Dec.  5,  1904. 

Ill 

DAN  WHITNEY  RECEIVES  A  WATCH  FROM  THE 
PRINCE. 

"DePere,  Wis.,  Dec.  5,  1904. 
"Dear  Mr.  Lawson: — 

"When  I  was  about  fourteen  years  old,  I  lived 
at  Mrs.  Daniel  M.  Whitney's  house  in  Green  Bay, 
while  attending-  school  there,  and  a  member  of 
her  family  told  me  that  at  that  time,  'Dan 
Whitney  (Jr.)  had  that  beautiful  watch,  which 
the  Prince  de  Joinville  gave  him,  for  taking-  him 
up  to  Eleazer  Williams,  when  he  was  here  in 
1841.'  "        Sgd.        Francis  Lawton  Dunham. 

IV 

HON.      THEODORE     CONKEY     HEARD     THE     PRINCE 
enquire  for  WILLIAMS. 

Appleton,  Dec.  22,  1904. 
Mr.  Lawson: 

Sir — I  am  in  receipt  of  your  letter  asking  for 
something  I  may  tell  you  of  the  now  famous 
Eleazer  Williams.  You  may  think  it  a  meagre 
bit,  but  such  as  it  is  I  give  it  gladly. 

303 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

In  the  summer  of  1841  my  husband  (Theodore 
Conkey)  a  young  man  of  twenty- two  years 
boarded  the  lake  steamer  at  Buffalo  bound  for 
the  far  away  west.  He  found  on  board  a  rollick- 
ing party  of  French  gentlemen  out,  it  might  seem 
"on  a  lark,"  a  pleasure  trip  to  the  great  unknown 
wilderness.  They  were  the  Prince  de  Joinville 
and  party.  Many  questions  were  asked  by  the 
Prince  about  the  strange  wild  country,  the  seem- 
ingly interminable  forest  and  the  wonderful  great 
water  way;  and  did  the  captain  or  any  gentleman 
aboard  know  of  one  Eleazer  Williams;  an  edu- 
cated man,  in  fact  a  priest  who  they  understood 
was  an  authority  on  Indian  affairs  being  himself 
a  native  «>f  some  eastern  tribe.  When  the  steamer 
drew  alongside  the  wooden  pier  at  Mackinac, 
there  grip  in  hand,  stood  the  reverend  gentleman, 
himself,  in  waiting.  He  came  leisurely  aboard, 
was  presented  by  the  Captain  to  the  Prince  de 
Joinville,  and  received  seemingly  as  a  friend, 
which  continued  all  the  way  to  Green  Bay,  where 
the  party  accompanied  by  Mr.  Williams'stopped 
at  the  Astor  House. 

After  the  Reverend  Mr.  Hanson's  book 
appeared,  my  husband  told  me  about  that  trip, 
which  perhaps  made  me  more  willing  to  accept 
the  plausibility  of  the  story.  It  seemed  to  fit. 
After  that  I  saw  Mr.  Williams  occasionally  in 
passing.  Once  on  the  Aquilla  I  think  crossing 
Winnebago,  he  came  aboard.     My  friend,  as  well 

304 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 


as  myself,  was  impressed  very  favorably  with  his 
personality,  and  yet  we  thought  he  really  did 
wonderfully  resemble  the  pictures  we  had  seen  of 
the  French  Bourbons.  We  were  charmed  with 
his  suave  courteous  and  dignified  bearing  and 
willing  to  concede  that  if  not  a  King  he  looked 
it.  Allow  me  to  assure  you  that  a  host  of  your 
friends  with  myself  await  your  book  with  pleas- 
ant anticipations.  Cynthia  F.  Conkey. 


THE  PRINCES  GIFT  OF  A  GOLD  SNUFF  BOX. 

The  following  extract  is  from  a  long,  old  letter 
in  possession  of  Mrs.  Fred  B.  Warren  of  Green 
Bay,  and  is  all  that  refers  to  Rev.  Williams,  and 
implies  some  former  conversation  or  correspon- 
dence on  the  subject.  The  letter  is  dated 
"Ceresco  [now  Ripon]  Fond  du  Lac  County,  W. 
T.  Dec.  20,  1845,"  and  addressed  to,  "S.  D, 
Williams,  Le  Roy,  Ohio." 

"I  have  seen  Eleazer  Williams,  he  lives  on  Fox 
River,  10  miles  above  Green  Bay,  seems  in  good 
circumstances  for  an  Indian.  He  has  had  an 
invitation  to  visit  the  King  of  France.  He  is 
some  related  to  him  on  his  mother's  side.  He 
has  received  a  royal  present,  a  gold  snuff  box. 
Prince  de  Joinville  visited  him  when  on  a  tour 
through  this  country  a  few  years  ago.  The 
Prince  pronounced  this  country  the  finest  in  the 
world."  Sgd.     "L.  M.  Parsons.  " 

305 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

VI. 

GIFT  FROM    FKANCR,    PAINTING  OF    LOUIS  XVI. 

"Sheboygan,  Wis.,  July  14,  1904. 
"Mr.  Lawson: — 

"In  answer  to  your  letter,  I  will  say  a  photo- 
graph of  Louis  XVI  cannot  be  taken.  It  has 
been  tried  but  the  picture  is  too  dark.  It  is 
painted  on  wood,  and  the  wood  has  darkened 
with  age.  This  picture  was  sent  to  Mr.  Williams 
after  the  visit  of  the  Prince  De  Joinville.  It 
arrived  in  Sheboygan  after  the  boats  had  stopped 
running,  and  as  Mr.  Williams  was  about  to  go 
east  he  came  to  my  fathers  (Brown)  hotel,  and 
opened  the  picture  there.  I  was  a  child  at  the 
time,  but  remember  his  delight  on  opening  it. 
When  he  went  east  he  requested  us  not  to  give 
up  the  picture  except  by  written  order  from  him, 
which  never  came,  and  he  never  returned  from 
the  east. "  Respectfully, 

Mrs.  L.  H.  Jones. 

VII. 

RECOLLECTIONS  OF   THE   LAST   DAYS   OF   ELEAZER 
WILLIAMS. 

In  1902,  the  Inter  Ocean,  Chicago,  in  a  paper 
on  the  "Lost  Dauphin,"  published  an  interview 
with  Hon.  D.  R.  Cameron,  which  portion  of  the 
paper  is  given  below: 

306 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 


"Again  has  the  mysterious  case  of  Eleazer 
Williams  come  to  the  front.  D.  R.  Cameron,  of 
Cameron,  Amberg  &  Co.,  has  announced  that  he 
was  well  acquainted  with  the  queer  old  mission- 
ary. Mr.  Cameron  believes  that  Williams  was 
the  lost  Dauphin  of  France. 

"The  Chicago  merchant  was  one  of  the  pall 
bearers  at  the  funeral  of  Williams. 

"I  remember  distinctly  the  day  the  Rev. 
Eleazer  Williams  was  buried,"  said  Mr.  Cameron 
in  telling  the  story  a  few  days  ago.  "It  was  a 
bright,  sunny  day  in  August.  Aurora  lodge,  No. 
383,  of  the  Masons,  which  took  charge  of  the 
funeral,  had  not  been  organized  very  long  at  the 
time.  A  few  days  previous  to  Williams'  death, 
with  several  fellow  members  of  the  lodge,  I 
visited  him  at  his  chateau  and  he  requested  that 
he  be  buried  with  Masonic  rites. 

"Every  one  in  the  village  knew  of  the  romance 
woven  about  his  name,  but  few  believed  that  he 
was  a  French  Prince.  He  was  generally  liked 
and  had  many  friends.  The  Indians  were  more 
congenial  for  him  than  were  his  white  neighbors, 
and  it  was  among  them  that  he  did  most  of  his 
missionary  work. 

"He  had  many  peculiarities  which  might  have 
traces  of  a  childhood  training  amid  other  sur- 
roundings. He  never  confided  to  me  that  he 
believed  himself  of  royal  birth,  and,  indeed,  sel- 
dom  talked    on   the  subject   with   anyone.     His 

307 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 

most  treasured  possession  was  a  woman's  dress 
of  costly  material  and  elegant  workmanship.  I 
admired  it  greatly,  and  every  time  I  would  visit 
him  he  would  take  it  out  and  show  it  to  me.  It  w^as 
such  a  gown  as  might  have  been  worn  by  one  of  the 
great  dames  in  the  time  of  the  Bourbon  monarchy. 

"In  1851,  with  an  old  Indian  woman  as  house- 
keeper, he  took  up  his  residence  at  Hogansburg. 
This  house,  where  he  lived  and  died,  and  the 
modest  marble  slab  in  the  cemetery  is  all  that 
remains  to  remind  strangers  of  Lazarre.  With  a 
steep  Gothic  roof  and  diamond  shaped  window 
panes,  it  was  built  according  to  his  design  to 
resemble  an  old  French  chateau.  Friends  inter- 
ested in  his  story  paid  for  the  erection  of  the  house. 

"On  Sundays  he  held  services  in  this  house,  to 
which  those  of  the  villagers  who  wished  to  wor- 
ship with  the  Indians  were  welcomed.  Occasion- 
ally he  went  to  Fort  Covington  to  visit  the 
family  of  Richard  Grange,  whose  widow  is  now 
living  in  Fort  Covington,  N.  Y.  She  was  a  great 
friend  of  Lazarre 's,  and  in  a  letter  written  to 
Mr.  Cameron  last  week  she  said: 

'Though  it  is  years  since  I  saw  and  talked  with 

Eleazer  Williams  I  remember  him  distinctly,  "she 

says  in  her  letter.     "His  story  always  appealed 

to  the  vein  of  romance  in  my  nature,  and  I  firmly 

believe   that   he  was    'the   lost   Prince. '     I  still 

believe  it,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  once  when  I 

asked  him  if  he  was  of  royal  birth  he  replied:  'I 

do  not  know.' 

308 


PRINCE      OR      CREOLE 


When  he  came  to  Fort  Covington  to  visit  us  he 
often  wore  a  long,  dark  blue  military  coat.  When 
he  died  he  left  a  small  library;  and  a  white  silk 
court  dress,  which  he  declared  had  belonged  to 
his  mother.  During  his  life  he  always  had 
Indian  servants  about  him  and  Indian  friends 
calling  at  his  home.  In  his  last  illness  I  paid 
him  a  visit  in  company  with  the  physician  who 
attended  him.  The  doctor  said  that  his  patient 
did  not  show  a  trace  of  Indian  blood  in  the  color 
of  his  skin,  and  I  could  see  myself  that  his  hair 
was  not  the  straight,  black  hair  of  the  Indian." 

A  son  of  the  above  Martha  Grange  writes  the 
author. 

"Fort  Covington,  N.  Y.,  Feb.  10,  1905. 
Mr.  p.  V.  Lawson,  Menasha,  Wis. 

"In  my  early  childhood  I  frequently  saw 
Eleazer  Williams  as  he  made  my  fathers  house 
his  home  when  visiting  this  village.  He  was 
heavily  built  about  5  ft  3  or  4  inches  in  height, 
fair  skin,  no  appearance  whatever  of  Indian  blood. 
A  man  of  mild  manners  always  well  dressed." 
Sgd.        "R.  A.  Grange." 

IX 

Mary  E.  Seaver  of  Malone,  N.  Y.,  writes  the 

author  that  her  husband  who  was  the  agent  who 

paid   the   St.  Regis  Indians  their   annuities   for 

many  years,  and  her  father,  both  knew  Eleazer 

Williams   well    and    did  not  believe   he  w^as  an 

Indian. 

309 


INDEX 


Angouleme 12 

Artois 21 

Astor  House 234-5 

Barras 101-3 

Bastille 25,  28- 

Bailly 27,  30,58 

Beauchesne 102 

Bellenger 135 

Bondual 245 

Burke,  Edmund 42 

Caughnawaga 146 

Campan  36,  134 

Cameron  D.  R 306 

Chauniont 154 

China,  brass  and  silver 281 

Colton,  Calvin 165 

Collins,  Dr 259 

Colonne 16,  18 

Clery 82 

Conkey,  Theodore 229,  303 

Conciergerie 94 

Desault,  Dr 113 

Dickenson 168 

Eastman 141.  269 

Elv 157.  161 

Ellis 181 

Farsen 59,  57 

Ferrier,  de 154-5 

Figaro  106 

Foulon 31 

Genet,    M 134 

Gomin 105-6-7 

Grange 308 

Green  Bay 235 

Hawes,  Dr 254 

Hanson,   Dr 254 

Hale 173 

Hobart 180 

Jewett 170 

Jenkins 165 

Josephine 10,  103,  128 

Joinville,  Prince  de,  216,  218,  224,  299 
303,  305. 

Jourdain' 209 

Jourdain,  Mary  H 210,  276 

Latimer 247 

Lawrence,  Amos 269 

Librarj-  288 

La  Vendee 89 

Lamball  11,  35,  42,  82,  84 

Lasne 106,  112 

Laurent 103-4-5-6 

Lienard 104 

La  Fayette 28,  33,  34.  35,  38,  53.  58 

Louis  XVI     19,  29.  30,  34.  70,  87,  88, 
306. 


Lazare 171 

Louis  XVII     12,  13,  14,  IS,  30,  32,  34, 
41.  43.  57.  89. 

Louis  XV III 102-3 

Louis  Philippe 221 

Marie  Antoinette,    11,    12,   13,  21,   24, 
29.  34,  42,  70,  84,  87,  89. 

Madam  Royal 11,  12 

Marseillaise 71 

Maillard 33 

Masons 271,  272 

Mc  Cartj- 227,  243 

Mirabeau 26 

Morse 193 

Nan  278 

Napoleon  76 

National  Assembly 51 

National  Guard 27 

Necker 15,  27 

Notables,  Assembly 17.  18 

Orleans,  Egalite,  21,  22,  23,  27,  3',  33. 
35.  37.  40,  70,  87,  91. 

Oneida 180 

Onderdonk 215 

Palais  Royal 22 

Pelletan,  Dr 116 

Penthievre 22 

Polignac 13.  16.  21 

Pleasants 244,  296 

Revolution 26 

Robespierre loi 

States  General 20,  24.  25 

Simon  the  Cobbler 97 

Smith 167 

Sharpe 243,  298 

Shook,  Captain 231,  24s 

Skenandoah 181 

St.  Regis 180,  270 

Sumner,  Geo 24s 

> 

Temple,  Martha 171 

Temple,  the 79.  80,  81,  97 

Tyson  woman 90 

Tuileries 15.  63,  66,  70,  72 

Tourzel 37.  38,  82 

Turgot 16 

Tricolor 27 

Varennoes 57 

Versailles 31.  40 

Washington 28 

Williams  Eleazer 137 

Williams  Marj'  H 276 

Williams  John  L 276.  279 

Williams  George 277,  280 

Welch,   Dr 172 

Whitney 243,  268,  303 


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